[Pokémon] Sasha's Story: After the Ashes

Just a story I've been working on for the past few months

Description: Ten years after Cyrus is stopped, the world has mostly recovered. Blessed with a power she did not ask for, an eevee makes friends with a lonely Mewtwo who saved her life. Now, the unlikely duo begin to explore the new paths their lives have taken and discover many new and interesting things along the way.
Cover art:


Some things before we begin:

-This takes place a decade after Saphroneth's Ashes of the Past's ending (not required reading, per se, but still recommended as it's one of the better Peggy Sue fanfics out there) and if characterization/events seem off…well, there's a very good reason for that which will be revealed eventually.
-There will be time skips and anachronistic order may kick in from time to time. I apologize if it's difficult to follow.
-Any and all shout-outs to other fics are deliberate (and a few may be accidental) – more about this will be revealed as things go on.
-Characterization will not be compliant to any one canon continuity.
-Scene suggestions are welcome (Just make sure I haven't already done it though, since with anachronistic order, it can be difficult to pinpoint what happened when and where - again, sorry.)

If I'm missing anything, please let me know.
-

(1.1)

Mewtwo should have ignored her.

He should've left the half-dead eevee on the slopes of Mt. Silver; left her to be claimed by the frigid weather like so many other trainers and pokémon who had perished over the years.

To be honest, he'd barely noticed her at all, due to the fact her silvery-white fur blended in with her surroundings.

It was the eyes that had caught his attention.

Two red pools among the ocean of white.

He knelt by her and touched her lightly. The eyes moved, looking at him before closing. Mewtwo felt her pulse quicken slightly, but nowhere near a pace he'd consider normal.

And so he had used his power to erect an igloo around the eevee and begun the task of saving the child's life.

After drying her, she twitched, then shivered violently, which pleased her rescuer. He carefully held her close, letting the heat from his own body seep into her, checking her pulse to make sure she didn't go into cardiac arrest.

Her body temperature was still dangerously low and he didn't any warm liquid to give her...well...he did, but he didn't have the means to give it to her reliably.

Shaking his head, Mewtwo pushed the thought to the back of his mind. While liquid was out, there was warm air he could give her...

Pinching her nose shut, he gently breathed into her mouth. After a few minutes, she stirred and coughed, shivers running up and down her body.

"Come back to me, little one," he murmured. "There's still so much for you to do."

Once she'd stabilized, he picked her up and teleported to his current home, deep within one of the many cities scattered around the world. Standing in the center of the living room, he wrapped the eevee in blankets and went to pour her a drink.

When he came back with a glass, her eyes were open. Mewtwo met her gaze and smiled slightly.

"Welcome back," he said. Her ears twitched and she frowned before shaking her head, wincing. He stepped closer and she went still, watching him warily. "I mean you no harm."

Her eyes narrowed then moved to the drink in his hand. A small pink tongue wet her lips and she nodded warily. Mewtwo gently placed the glass to her lips and she drank slowly, relaxing as she did so. She blinked drowsily and yawned.

Mewtwo checked her pulse and was pleased to find it strong and healthy. He unwrapped the eevee and she stretched carefully, letting out a small hiss as she flexed her paws.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at him, tail twitching. "My name is Sasha."

"Mewtwo."

She tilted her head. "That doesn't really sound...well...normal."

Mewtwo arched a brow and crossed his arms. "It's rare that I meet a Pokémon who gives themselves a name as well, Sasha. It's a nice name."

She flicked her ears and looked away. "Right, well, thanks for patching me up. I'll just be going then."

She didn't make it three steps before she collapsed with a snarl of pain. Mewtwo winced and gently picked her up in his telekinesis, laying her back down.

"You really need to be checked at a Pokémon Center," he said. "The only reason I didn't take you there straight away is because I'm trying to avoid any unnecessary attention."

She glared at him. "You're a psychic. Teleport me."

Mewtwo narrowed his eyes thoughtfully before shaking his head. "There's regulations against that for several reasons."

Sasha sighed and rubbed her face with a paw. "So I'm stuck here until you're satisfied that I won't keel over?"

Mewtwo nodded.

"Fine," Sasha grumbled. "But as soon as I'm able, I'm gone."

(1.2)

"Come on."

"No."

"It's not nearly as bad as you think it is."

"Do I look like a human to you?"

"...Okay, fair enough, but you're roughly human-shaped and therefore eligible for wearing a suit."

"I don't have a problem with wearing suits. Just the tie."

"You're a psychic."

"And tying a tie is beyond me. I'm not ashamed to admit it."

"What about a bow tie? Clip-on?"

"Why not add a fez and call it a cosplay while you're at it?"

"Oh for..."

Sasha shook her head at the stubborn clone. "Looking nice for a date isn't going to kill you."

"It's not a date," Mewtwo replied stiffly.

"It's just the two of you having a nice quiet meal together and depending on how things go, maybe a different kind of dessert at the end of it all," Sasha said innocently.

"You've been reading way too much fanfiction," Mewtwo snorted.

"You're the one who didn't clear their browser history," Sasha replied.

Mewtwo glared at her before sighing and looked at himself in the mirror.

"You don't have to wear the suit if you don't want to," Sasha said gently. "What matters most is that you're comfortable."

She ran a critical eye over his body and shrugged. "You were designed to be a fighting machine with the capacity to survive in any environment. Looks came second to that."

"Thank you, I've read my own file," Mewtwo replied dryly.

"Just making sure you know not to dwell on whether or not you're worthy of her attention. And if she does make advances, not to think too hard of what she's attracted to you for."

"My charming personality, I'm sure," Mewtwo deadpanned.

"Get going," Sasha chided him, making a shooing motion with her paws. "And if you bring her back here, try to keep it down, would you?"

Mewtwo telekinetically smacked the troublesome eevee as he left the apartment. Sasha chuckled softly and gazed around the cozy four-room apartment before turning to the bookshelf and picking one at random to pass the time.

(1.3)

The two unlikely roommates stared at one another.

One had an amused smirk on their face while the other wore one of embarrassment.

"What do I owe you to not breathe a word of this to anyone?"

Sasha arched an eyebrow mischievously. "I'm an eevee. I don't have much that I want or need."

As Mewtwo's shoulders slumped, she leaped up onto the bathroom sink and glanced at the mirror.

"Wouldn't it be easier to practice kissing a pillow or something? A mirror can't exactly mimic a mouth's movements."

Mewtwo turned on the tab, wet his hand and swiped the mirror clean, using Sasha's tail to dry off, much to her annoyance. "Because if I practiced on a pillow, you'd tease me even more about it. It was my fault for leaving the door open."

"I know she looks like you and has a similar origin to yours...so if you two actually get together, would that count as-?"

"Finish that thought and you can spend the rest of the week as a magikarp."

(1.4)

"Why don't you ever bring your dates home?" Sasha asked Mewtwo as the two binged through a marathon of fantasy films.

"Because trying to woo a member of the fairer sex isn't easy when there's someone providing running commentary," Mewtwo replied.

"I only did that once!"

"And once was enough to know that if I ever wanted intimacy, I'd have to do it far away from you."

"You think I'm going to forget the time you practiced kissing on me?"

"I'm more curious as to where you picked up that talent."

"I'm good at a great many things from my years spent wandering Kanto and Johto. Whereas you, my genetically engineered friend, are still woefully unprepared for the next step in your relationship with Rei."

Mewtwo fidgeted uncomfortably and averted his eyes. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Speaking of Rei, do you have a pet name for her yet?"

The clone hesitated before nodding. Sasha gazed at him expectantly before giggling.

"Oh come on, Mewbutt, it can't be that bad."

"It's silly," he muttered. Sasha snorted.

"Silly nicknames are quite common in relationships."

Mewtwo sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Dove. I usually call her Dove."

"That's adorable; didn't know you had it in you. Congratulations," Sasha replied warmly.

"Thanks, Sasha."

He was silent for a moment before he spoke up. "And what of you? Anyone who's managed to catch your attention?"

Sasha's mouth thinned and she shook her head. "After having my innards fried by a Flamethrower, I haven't really been interested in romance. I usually prefer a good book or a feline body pillow to lay on rather than anything intimate or romantic."

Mewtwo gazed at her silently before his hand touched her back. "You're stiff as a board," he chided, picking her up and transferring her to his lap as his fingers worked expertly over her spine.

Sasha's irritated growls swiftly because pleased purrs and incoherent mumbling as the psychic clone undid the knots in her muscles.

Mewtwo tsked over the state of her fur and began to brush her as well. "You need to take care of yourself," he murmured, carefully untangling her fur. "Some day, I'm sure you'll find someone who cares for you, even if you can't..."

Sasha's claws dug into his leg and Mewtwo gently rubbed her back.

"Very well, I'll not pester you about it."

"Thank you."

(1.5)

"You're brooding again."

Mewtwo jerked slightly at the sound of his roommate's voice behind him. Without turning from his position on the balcony outside the apartment, he answered.

"I have a lot to brood on."

He felt the brush of fur against his leg before Sasha leaped up to balance precariously on the railing that circled the roof of the apartment building.

Mewtwo finally glanced at her and flinched under her disapproving stare.

"What?" he asked defensively. "Don't you ever think back on your life and wish you could've done things differently?"

"You know the answer to that," Sasha said coldly. Mewtwo winced and looked down at the busy city below.

He felt Sasha relax and her warm cheek rubbed against his arm that was braced against the railing as she sighed quietly.

"You've never been able to settle down in one place for long because of who and what you are. That much I can understand...after Red demolished Team Rocket in the Sevii Islands, I went to Johto and got tangled up in that mess. Then you managed to pry me off Mt. Silver and here we are, weeks later, not going anywhere. Why's that? Are you afraid of leaving me behind? Or taking me with you?"

"I wouldn't be able to guarantee your safety-"

Sasha's loud snort caught him off guard and he met her red-eyed glare with a blank one of his own.

"I've read the horror stories that surround other eevee. And since I'm an alternate color, it's even worse since breeders would use me for a chance of producing more. Being with you is the safest I've been in years."

Mewtwo was silent, tail twitching slowly before he stood back. "Fair enough," he said reluctantly. "I haven't heard any rumors about us around town so we don't have to leave yet. But if the opportunity ever comes up, is there any place you'd like to go?"

"Probably somewhere tropical. Alola or Hoenn," Sasha replied, tail flicking about as she balanced on the thin rail. "Although Hoenn tends to have radical weather shifts, what with being home to the weather trio and Castform."

Mewtwo made a face.

"And we won't be staying in some musty cave," Sasha added. "Probably a coastal town with an inn with a nice view of the setting sun so you can brood more."

"Alright, I get it," Mewtwo grumbled, swatting the eevee lightly with his telekinesis. His eyes went wide in horror as Sasha tipped over the railing with a startled yelp and with a thought, he latched onto her aura and teleported her to him. Catching the eevee in his arms, he fretfully stroked her.

"Stupid, stupid, [I/]stupid, I completely forgot...are you alright?"

Sasha's heartbeat slowly resumed something resembling normalcy as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"Well, once the initial shock wore off and shelving the thought of my rapidly-approaching death, it wasn't really scary. I can see why flying-types are so carefree."

Listening to Mewtwo's pounding heart, Sasha frowned. "Hey," she said, gently headbutting him to get his full attention.

"I almost lost you," Mewtwo murmured. "Stupid, impulsive...I thought I'd learned to control that."

"It was my fault for pushing you," she said gently. "I'm sorry."

Mewtwo sighed and stepped further back from the edge, cradling the eevee against his chest, stroking over the soft bundle of fur.

Sasha's ears warmed and she hid her face against his chest. "Idiot," she mumbled, more to herself. Mewtwo glanced down at her before taking her back inside.

-
Questions, concerns, comments, criticism, flames, etc welcome

I like how much personality Mewtwo and Sasha have, and how you do a decent job at showing it. It's pretty dialogue heavy but it kinda works well for this imo

Couple of things tho:
1) is it necessary to read this other fic you mentioned?
2) In every instance, you write "eevee" instead of "Eevee", and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the latter.

Nah said:

I like how much personality Mewtwo and Sasha have, and how you do a decent job at showing it. It's pretty dialogue heavy but it kinda works well for this imo

Couple of things tho:
1) is it necessary to read this other fic you mentioned?
2) In every instance, you write "eevee" instead of "Eevee", and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the latter.

Click to expand...

Thank you
Concerning Ashes of the Past:


As to my non-capitalization of pokémon names: I use the lower case to denote the species itself, while capitalized instances are names.

For example: a mewtwo named Mewtwo, who is a cloned member of the mew species.

There'll be some pokémon who give themselves unique names, such as Sasha and Rei, but for the most part, they simply go by the species name.

Does that help or have I lost you? ^^;

Bardothren said:

All in all, I was impressed with your character work and I'm eager to see where it goes. Heck, I may even give your other work a shot. Best of luck!

Click to expand...

AotP is not my work, as that is written by a geologist, of all things; I am merely playing in his sandbox in my own way, by fast-forwarding to the end and jumping a decade into the future. Why I chose to have my story set in such a way will eventually come about.

Thank you for the feedback and I'll keep it in mind for future segments, although description has never been my strong point. Always been a "tell, don't show" kind of person who prefers people building their own picture with the few hints I give out, either by accident or design.

...That's actually how some other scenes came about, by going back, noticing something interesting I mention off-handedly then I go back later and flesh it out.

Chapter 2 is just about done and should be up soon.

(2.1)

Mewtwo paced back and forth in the apartment's living room, book in hand as Sasha watched him.

"What're you reading?" she asked, shifting on her pillow on the smaller of the two couches in the room.

"A guide to caring for Pokémon," Mewtwo replied, turning the page. "I…got lucky when I first found you." He felt her inquisitive gaze and he sighed. "Nothing you need to worry about."

Sasha nodded, noticing his growing agitation and sank back into her cushion. She had seen something in the feline that intrigued her. He clearly wasn't comfortable surrounded by civilization. When she asked about the apartment, he replied it had been turned into a habitat for wild Pokémon. In return for his protection, the Pokémon living in the floors below provided electricity, water and heat.

As for basic necessities such as food, Mewtwo bluntly told her he stole them. A little here, a little there, nothing that would be missed during a cursory scan. There hadn't been any reports of theft in the paper and Mewtwo had left it at that.

The eevee knew she wouldn't get anything out of the prickly feline until they had time to get used to one another. He still paused whenever he walked into a room and saw her. Sometimes there was a flash of something in his eyes that unnerved her.

He had no problems taking care of her, bathing and brushing her without comment. He monitored her attempts to walk carefully and massaged her aches.

The first time he'd done that had startled her, since she'd been trying to get comfortable and kept experiencing flashes of discomfort. He explained he'd had rudimentary experience with living with Pokémon. His eyes had grown distant and his strokes had become tender as he lost himself in what were clearly pleasant memories.

Sasha didn't push him on the issue and he'd become somewhat less frosty after that.

(2.2)

Sasha wasn't sure what to think of Mewtwo's girlfriend. Pokéfriend. Whatever the term was. The female mewtwo – while not unbearable – was still an anomaly to the eevee. Sasha was rather bemused to feel the a stab of jealousy when Mewtwo mentioned he'd be staying with the female for a few days.

Sasha rubbed her head with her paws and focused on Mewtwo. The feline – once you managed to get past the cold indifferent exterior – was the kind of Pokémon who preferred to find a quiet place to relax and think rather than spend time with others. Probably as a result of his psychic nature. Yet around her, he was…she hesitated to call it affectionate, but he seemed to enjoy stroking her ears and fur when they spent time reading from Mewtwo's collection or watching movies the clone had found over the years.

She knew he cared for her as a friend. Well, that's what she hoped, anyway. Hopefully he didn't feel an obligation to look after her for keeping her alive. Sasha's stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought and she let out a frustrated growl.

Sasha paced the length of the room she'd claimed as her own a few times before flopping onto her bed, burrowing into the blankets.

Nothing about the clone made sense.

And that scared her.

(2.3)

"So, what did you do before Mt. Silver?" Mewtwo asked Sasha one day.

The eevee shrugged. "Was born, wandered around, saw things, did things, did stupid things, ate, drank, made merry…that kind of thing."

Mewtwo stared at her. "That was…the vaguest description of someone's life I have  heard."

Sasha rolled her eyes. "You asked, I answered."

The psychic pinched the eevee's ear and she nipped at him. Tapping her on the nose, Mewtwo asked, "Could you be a little more specific, please? What led to you exploring Mt. Silver?"

Sasha flexed her paws, examining them idly as she sorted through her memories. "Shortly after my birth, Team Rocket captured me and my family. Eventually wound up at one of their warehouses where we were taken care of and eventually shipped out to be gambling prizes or given away to trainers through one of the Rocket fronts, such as a business that handed out alternate starter pokémon to trainers."

"Interesting idea, that," Mewtwo mused. "Something other than fire, water or grass. Pikachu, eevee, maybe other low-maintenance style pokémon…they're a lot cleverer than I gave them credit for."

Sasha nodded. "After that whole mess was sorted out, I snuck aboard a ship and soon found myself in Johto. Would you like me to elaborate on that as well?" she asked.

"Maybe some other time," Mewtwo replied, stretching. "It's time for bed."

"My stories aren't that boring!"

"Never said they were."

(2.4)

With a thunderous crack, the power went out.

Mewtwo let out a hiss of pain and dropped the book he had been reading onto the couch as Sasha sank her claws into his leg. He glanced down at the fox curled in his lap. "Sasha?"

He could feel her fur standing on end, every muscle taut with tension and as his eyes swiftly adjusted to the darkness, he saw an expression he hadn't yet seen on her face in the week they'd been living together.

Fear.

Mewtwo gently placed his hand on her back and she let out a shaky breath as shivers wracked her frame. Wordlessly, she buried her face against his chest and he felt her tears wet his fur. He continued to stroke over her, not saying anything as she slowly calmed down. Outside, the thunderstorm continued its assault.

After a while, she pulled away, pawing at her eyes. "Sorry about that," she mumbled. "I...that wasn't very cool of me, was it?"

"Sasha..."

"I mean, what kind of pokémon is scared of some noise and light, right?"

"Sasha."

She flinched at his serious tone and her ears drooped. She huffed and looked away from him. "It was raining the night I...was attacked by that Houndoom. Didn't really expect Archer's pokémon to carry a grudge like that."

"Archer? Houndoom?"

Sasha shivered and Mewtwo's features softened.

"Ah. I won't pry until you're ready to tell that tale yourself. So you don't like thunderstorms or fire?"

"Obviously."

Mewtwo tilted his head as he stroked over her. "I'm surprised your sense of humor survived, to be honest."

Sasha scowled and shook her head. "I'm usually much more pessimistic. I blame the near-death experiences I keep running into for turning me into such a cynic."

"It suits you."

Sasha shot him a scathing look and Mewtwo stuck his tongue out at her.

(2.5)

Mewtwo and Sasha sat under a tree on the edge of a cliff by the seaside, enjoying the late fall afternoon.

Sasha pricked her ears from her position in Mewtwo's lap and bared her fangs.

Mewtwo got to his feet, senses flaring as he scanned the area, picking up a lone life sign coming towards them. Sasha nestled comfortably in his arms and they turned to meet the newcomer. Both Pokémon stared in surprise as the figure approached and stopped a few yards away.

"Giovanni," Mewtwo greeted neutrally. The leader of Team Rocket stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"I'm not here for trouble. Came alone, in fact. Surely you know that."

Mewtwo eyed him warily as he reached out with his senses. There weren't any Dark or Psychic-type signatures nearby that usually meant Rocket operatives being hidden - poorly - and Mewtwo eventually agreed that Giovanni was in fact alone.

"I'm going to get to the point. Trying to capture either of you is a very expensive endeavor and you've actually made us lose profit from our legitimate businesses," Giovanni said. Mewtwo snorted in disbelief and Giovanni shrugged. "I don't care if you believe me or not. I'm a businessman and as such, I'm merely telling you we're going to pursue more...profitable ventures. Unless you've changed your mind about letting us study you and your friend?" he asked.

Mewtwo's silence was all the answer he needed and he nodded.

"Very well. I wish the both of you best of luck and hopefully I will never see either of you again."

With that, he turned and walked away.

Sasha was quiet for a moment before she let out a shaky laugh. "Huh...that's the smartest thing I've ever seen him do. Does this mean we won't have to sleep with one eye open anymore?"

"He could always use a KillSat or something and wipe us out. If he can't have us, then he'll make sure no one can," Mewtwo replied.

"...You must be real fun at parties."

"I've been known to tear up the dance floor from time to time."

"Literally, because you're awful at it and people mock you?"

"...No comment."

-
I like to think unlike most characters with the usual dark backstories, Sasha wasn't one to get hung up on it, but she's still sensitive whenever something related to it crops up and she's quick to either switch gears or hide behind humor to hide it.

(3.1)

Mewtwo and Sasha watched members of Team Rocket unload boxes of Pokéballs from a boat on the shore of Five Island. The duo was perched on a cliff overlooking a meadow dominated by a massive warehouse.

"Gotta give Team Rocket credit," Sasha muttered, "even after being trounced more times than a ditto in a day care, they always come back..."

"Interesting analogy aside, are you sure this is wise?" Mewtwo asked. Sasha glanced at him pensively before turning her attention back to the bustle below.

"I'm sure," she replied. Mewtwo narrowed his eyes as he watched the Grunts walk into the large warehouse Sasha had been kept in years ago.

"And you're sure about going alone?"

"A foot-tall 'mon is much better suited for sneaking than a six-and-a-half-foot tall mutated cat."

"You practically glow in the dark."

Sasha rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever. You know Miracle Eye, right?"

Mewtwo frowned at the non sequitur and nodded warily. Sasha smiled.

"Good. Keep an eye on me, would you? Pull me out of there if things go wrong or I ask, alright?"

Every fiber of his being told him this was a bad idea, and that he should take them away from Team Rocket, but Mewtwo was surprised to find himself trusting the eevee and nodding.

He tracked Sasha's signature as she slipped into the warehouse. A few minutes passed without incident and Mewtwl wondered what she was hoping to accomplish by-

The warehouse exploded. The windows blew outwards as a fireball blasted through the roof, raining flaming shrapnel while the Rockets panicked and grabbed the crates, loading them back onto the boats.

Mewtwo's jaw dropped and it took him a few panicked seconds to locate Sasha's signature again. Pulling it to him with a Teleport, he was dumbfounded to find himself staring at a slightly singed umbreon.

A white-furred umbreon with red eyes and blue rings on its face and limbs.

"Sasha...?"

The umbreon batted at its ears and frowned. "WHAT?"

Mewtwo let out a growl and with a twitch, yanked them through space and back into the apartment. Dropping the umbreon onto the couch, Mewtwo stared at it, arms crossed.

"Explain."

The umbreon shook its head and winced, coughing up some smoke. "Okay, ow. I did not expect Metronome to turn into Explosion and..."

The umbreon caught sight of Mewtwo's stony expression and its voice trailed off.

"Okay, first things first, yes, it's me, Sasha. Second, I was going to tell you about this eventually. Probably once we'd subdued Team Rocket. Guess now is as good a time as any?"

She smiled at him uncertainly and he sat down, tail lashing angrily. Sasha flicked her ears nervously and stared at herself.

"So...yeah. Once I found myself freed from Team Rocket all those years ago, I was then savaged by a Houndoom who..."

Sasha went quiet again and stared at Mewtwo out of the corner of her eye. His eyes were carefully neutral and she flicked her tail, staring at it with a frown.

"Took a Flamethrower down my throat from that encounter and was left for dead. As I lay dying, there was this weird golden light and some voice said something or other. Was kinda busy dying and in every kind of pain imaginable and as such, really wasn't paying attention and next thing I know, the pain is gone and I'm right as rain."

Mewtwo's brow rose slightly. "...You make being saved sound so...inconvenient."

A scowl crossed the umbreon's face followed by a low growl. "It might have been better if I hadn't survived. After some more wandering, I found a blind Absol who called me a Arceus-blessed 'mon or something. Like I'd become some chosen one. And like something out of a bad story, he didn't say anything else when I asked him politely-"

Mewtwo snorted. Sasha glared at him.

"-what exactly he meant by that. So...yeah. I can turn into an umbreon."

"Again, you make it sound like an inconvenience."

"Kinda. I can't control how long. Sometimes it's minutes. Other times it's days."

Mewtwo tilted his head, resting his chin on his hands as he leaned forward. "How interesting. Someone chosen by Arceus and given such a unique ability? Yet you want nothing to do with it by the sound of things."

"Exactly. I didn't ask to become special. I was fine with living my life as a gambling prize, yet everything in the universe seems to have conspired to eliminate that possibility from my future a-"

Mewtwo telekinetically sealed Sasha's lips and she glowed for a moment before resuming her regular white-furred form.

"Relax, Sasha," Mewtwo said softly. "No one is going to force you to do something you don't want to."

Sasha nodded and Mewtwo released his grip on her mouth. She shook herself, stretched and climbed into Mewtwo's lap, circling a few times before curling up into a ball and went to sleep.

Mewtwo stroked over her gently as he stared out the window, wondering where to go from here.

(3.2)

"Let's go fishing," Sasha had said. "It'll be fun," she had said.

Watching the scene in front of him, Mewtwo had to wonder if she was regretting her words.

The shiny eevee was chasing a particularly foul-mouthed magikarp through the shallows, slowly descending into insanity.

"Too slow," the karp snickered, dodging Sasha's paws with contemptuous ease, sneering at her. "What'sa matter, ya fricken' stupid?"

He bounced on her head and wiggled his fins. Sasha swore up a storm as he smacked her face with his tail.

"Order now, I'll throw in a second beating absolutely free."

Mewtwo bit his lip as Sasha flailed after her dinner, which continued to mock her as they chased each other back and forth along the waterfront.

After a good twenty minutes, Sasha finally managed to corner the 'karp and finished it off, panting heavily as she carried it over to Mewtwo.

"Any particular reason you didn't step in?" she asked, dropping the fish. Mewtwo shrugged.

"You seemed to be having so much fun I didn't want to spoil it."

Sasha shot a glare at the fish and shook her head. "They're a lot smarter than they look, I'll give them that much."

"Dang! She got Nathan!"

Sasha whirled to see a few magikarp poking their heads out of the water.

"There lies Nathan. He flopped fast and died a virgin," one snickered.

"Really? Are you sure that wasn't you?" asked another, earning itself a smack over the head.

Sasha shook her head in disbelief while Mewtwo examined the magikarp she'd gotten before teleporting it away. The eevee shot him a curious look and the clone shrugged.

"Something for later," he said.

Sasha wondered what he meant by that.

(3.3)

"Mewtwo, you're a Legendary Pokémon, right?" Sasha asked one day as the two walked along a beach.

Well, Mewtwo walked while the eevee kept the sun off his head.

"I'm...not sure, actually. My interactions with other "legendary" pokémon range from limited to...non-existent," the clone replied. "I've not talked with some of them for years."

"Oh...well, you're certainly strong enough to qualify, I think," Sasha said stubbornly. "You could easily part the water here, for example, and walk on dry land."

"I could, but that would probably upset...oh, Kyogre, Manaphy and Lugia, to name a few. Displacing such a large amount of water would also upset the migration routes of water pokémon and disrupt the air currents, so that's a grumpy Rayquaza to add to the list, not to mention the numerous flying type-"

"Alright, alright, I get it, forget I said anything," Sasha muttered grumpily.

(3.4)

Sasha stared at the magikarp on the plate in front of her, then up at the pokémon that had prepared it.

"What?" Mewtwo asked, drying his hands with a towel.

"...Still not really used to seeing you in an apron," Sasha replied, turning her head back to the fish in front of her. It smelled heavenly but...

"I could've sworn magikarp were horrible dishes since they don't have a lot of meat on them," the eevee said, carefully poking the plump meat. "Where'd all this come from?"

Mewtwo's eyes gleamed. "The trick to preparing magikarp is a trade secret among the best chefs in the regions. No two recipes are alike, but there's always imposters who manage to ruin it for everyone else."

"And how did you come by this recipe?"

"I yoinked it from the mind of some great chef when I was wandering around. Had to survive somehow and since magikarp are a dime a dozen, being able to prepare them for edible consumption helped."

"Yoink? Seriously?" Sasha giggled. Mewtwo crossed his arms with a huff and looked away.

"Kids today, thinking they're all hot stuff because they use words no one else has ever thought of. Hah! Back in my day, we'd have eaten them alive!"

"You feeling alright?" Sasha asked.

"Of course not. It takes days to prepare magikarp and I haven't slept at all. Now eat the damn fish so I can go to sleep," Mewtwo snapped as he rubbed a hand over his face.

Sasha flinched and dug into the meal. Her eyes went wide and her ears flicked in delight. "Sweet mother of Mew, this is amazing!"

She turned to Mewtwo and blinked in surprise. The cat had slid to the floor and had passed out.

"...Idiot," Sasha muttered, trotting to the living room to get him a blanket.

(3.5)

Mewtwo was curled up on the couch watching television with Sasha in his lap. The clone stroked over the eevee as the news rolled by.

"So, you said you're not a fan of humans," Sasha eventually spoke. "Why?"

Mewtwo's fingers tightened fractionally on Sasha's back before he answered.

"Because they keep overstepping their boundaries."

Sasha turned to stare up at him, frowning slightly. "You're a master of being incredibly vague and avoiding questions."

Mewtwo snorted softly. "On the contrary, I simply try to apply the fewest words required to state a fact."

Sasha flicked her tail against his stomach and shook her head. "That isn't a satisfying answer."

Mewtwo scowled at her. "Greedy little eevee, always wanting to know everything." He ruffled her ears affectionately. "Humans are weak, selfish creatures, only interested in power and wealth."

Sasha nodded slowly, remembering the Team Rocket Executives who had planned to resurrect Team Rocket and rolled on to her back so Mewtwo could rub her belly.

"And you changed your mind because...?"

"I was shown that not all humans were like the ones who made me. Took a few tries for the message to sink in though. I...did some things I regret and have tried my best to make up for them," he said softly.

"What'd you do?" Sasha asked, stretching in bliss.

Mewtwo went silent, hand circling slowly on Sasha's chest before stopping.

"It's...personal."

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't be. She has given me more than enough-" Mewtwo caught himself and stared down at Sasha's amused smirk. "Yes, it was a female. Go ahead and laugh."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Sasha tilted her head. "I can see why you're so leery about romance."

"I'm not leery-" Mewtwo started, only to rub a hand over his face. "You are such an irritating little furball," he growled.

"When was the last time you got laid?"

"None of your business."

Sasha went quiet and Mewtwo felt her body heave in a silent sigh.

"Sasha, I..."

"It's alright. I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories."

She slipped out of his grip and jumped to the floor.

"Good night, Mewtwo."

The clone watched her go and leaned back in the couch, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling.

"...Dammit."

-
And here's where things finally went somewhere other than slice of life and when I started putting actual thought into turning this into a proper story.

(4.1)
Rei wrapped her arms around Mewtwo's torso and nuzzled his neck. The female clone noted Mewtwo's tenseness and asked, "What's wrong?"

Mewtwo twined his tail with hers and leaned into her embrace. "Besides the usual?"

Rei shook her head reproachfully. "So you still haven't told her?"

"How am I supposed to tell someone blessed by Arceus that I..." Mewtwo faltered on the next word and fell silent.

"The same way you told me?" Rei murmured, cupping his cheek with her hand as she nuzzled his nose, causing Mewtwo's ears to warm.

"That's not exactly...feasible," Mewtwo replied carefully, returning the gesture. Rei snorted softly.

"You could just kiss her. I'm sure that'd help clear things up"

Mewtwo made a weird noise in his throat, somewhere between a laugh and a scoff and Rei's brows rose.

"...You've already kissed her? Why?"

"It was...erm...practice. For kissing you."

Mewtwo scowled as Rei fell off the bed laughing.

"So how was she? At kissing, I mean," Rei asked, getting her mirth under control.

Mewtwo let his mind wander back to the day he'd awkwardly practiced kissing with the shiny eevee.

"...Soft," he murmured, remembering the feel of his roommate's lips against his own. His hand reached up to touch his mouth and he shook his head. "But that doesn't mean anything, I have you."

Rei stood up, hand on her hip as she looked down at him. "But you don't have me. I'm not mad. Well, kinda. You really need to talk to her about this. Please? You'll feel a lot better once you have it off your chest."

Mewtwo nodded reluctantly. Rei leaned down, cupped his face in her hands and kissed his nose as she pushed him back onto the bed, climbing on top of him.

"And with that out of the way, I can now teach you how to give the lady the attention she deserves..."

(4.2)
Sasha tossed and turned in her bed, unable to fall asleep. After a few minutes, she let out a frustrated growl and got up, shaking herself from ears to tail.

Stepping out of her room, she looked around the darkened apartment, turning her ears this way and that. Hearing nothing, she wondered if Mewtwo was at Rei's for the evening. The thought somewhat irritated her, since she usually enjoyed airing her grievances with the clone, whether it was about trainers, pokémon or life in general.

Making her way to the door, she let herself out and ventured to the abandoned floors below where Mewtwo had made his home after a series of incidents he'd vaguely touched on when she'd asked.

Humans seemed content with giving old abandoned buildings to wild pokémon to nest in and prohibiting trainers from catching them. Sasha had been pleasantly surprised to learn the pokémon provided heat, water and electricity not only to Mewtwo's home but to some of the surrounding homes as well.

The eevee had been down here before and discovered all kinds of urban 'mon, from rattata, to pidgey, ekans and, to her surprise, a pair of absol who seemed particularly interested in her.

Making her way to where they kept their den, she wasn't surprised to see they were awake. The male was the usual dark-skinned, white-furred absol while his mate's skin was reddish-orange. Both nodded politely to her.

"Good evening, Sasha. Couldn't sleep?" the male asked. Sasha shook her head ruefully.

"No, Aiedail. Too many things on my mind and my usual stress reliever is...occupied," Sasha said, sitting down and flexing her paws one at a time.

Aiedail tilted his head as the female rested her head on his back. "So you've come to clear your mind?"

Sasha wrinkled her nose. "Maybe?"

"Why don't you tell us what's bothering you the most?" Aiedail's wife asked.

"Well, Song, it's...complicated? The top thing on my mind is probably...love," Sasha grumbled.

The two absol shared an amused look before Song spoke. "You've fallen in love with him, then?"

Sasha's ears warmed and she nodded slowly. Song nudged her husband with a smirk. "I was right," she snickered while Aiedail rolled his eyes.

Sasha glared half-heartedly at them. "Seriously? Anyone else in on this?"

Aiedail failed miserably at keeping a straight face and Song grinned.

"For..." Sasha snorted in disbelief. "Unbelievable. My entire life is a game to you?"

"You know that's not true," Aiedail replied sharply. Song reached a paw out soothingly.

"It's just...you're rather easy to read, Sasha. I wouldn't be surprised if Mewtwo knows as well."

What little color in the eevee's face drained and she hid her head in her scruff.

"Seriously though, Sasha," Song said, "Just taking time to sit down and talk about it with him...that's probably the best thing you can do at this point. Holding it in just makes it worse."

Aiedail nodded, nuzzling the red absol fondly. "That's what I did with you," he murmured. Song pushed him away teasingly, sticking her tongue out at him.

"And then you showed me just how much you loved me," she chuckled.

"Er...I think I'll just be going then," Sasha muttered awkwardly as the two disaster pokémon made goo-goo eyes at each other. Chuckling softly, the eevee made herself scarce and went back upstairs.

(4.3)
"Lord Arceus?"

The Original One opened an eye to gaze at one of the first pokémon it had created.

"What is it, Mew?"

The small cat-like pokémon twisted its paws together before it spoke.

"I've been following the shiny eevee you saved and blessed and...with all due respect, I think you made a mistake."

"You're talking about her bitterness towards being saved, correct?"

The Mew nodded and Arceus shook its head.

"Just because I gave her my blessing does not mean I have designs for her. That's reserved for my Chosen, such as Ash, Yellow, Wes and N."

"Yes...ah...about Ash..." Mew said nervously. "He's...um...missing. Again."

Arceus sighed heavily and made a note to have Celebi check the Ketchum boy's time stream and give him a nudge in the right direction.

(4.4)
Sasha stared at the pink fabric Mewtwo was holding curiously.

"What's that then? Something for Rei?"

Mewtwo shook his head with a small smile.

"No…this is something for…you."

Sasha blinked as Mewtwo knelt in front of her and tied it around her neck.

The soft fabric rested comfortably against her fur and she touched it with a paw.

"Thank you," she said, ears heating up.

The clone gathered her up in his arms and stroked over her.

"Just something to let others know you're not a wild pokémon," the clone explained. "Rei gave me the idea and I made it myself."

Sasha raised her eyebrows and she giggled. "He can cook, he can clean, he can knit and sew. A 'mon of many talents."

"You're welcome."

(4.5)
The lights were on as Mewtwo paced the length of the living room, arms folded behind his back. He turned as the door closed and he nodded absently.

"Welcome back"

"You too," Sasha replied, jumping up onto the couch. "Hey Mewtwo, can we talk?"

The clone stared at her and she blushed. Taking a breath, she started speaking.

"Over these past weeks, I've thought about things, such as maybe you only keeping me around because you felt obligated to after saving me and…I have come to realize that's not the case. Meanwhile, I've…" she closed her eyes and the next words fell from her lips like weights.

"I think I might have fallen in love with you."

Mewtwo moved his arms from behind his back to cross them across his chest, tail waving idly as she fidgeted under his gaze.

"I've noticed," he said simply. "And…while I originally thought it might've been a schoolyard crush, it seems I was...wrong."

He knelt in front of the eevee and touched her cheek, cupping it in his grip and tilted her head up. "Sasha…while I'm flattered you're attracted to me, you do realize it'd be impracticable for us to…well, you know…mate, right?"

Sasha pressed her head into his palm and growled. "That's not what I want, anyway," she said. "I just…like being by you. With you."

Mewtwo gently kissed her forehead. "Nothing wrong with that, little one."

Sasha flicked her tail in surprise. Mewtwo pulled her close, cradling her against his chest.

-
I was initially leery of touching on romance, but sometimes you just have to take the leap.
It's certainly not a major focus of the story as a whole.

And now for something slightly different
If you're here for intricately detailed battles with flashy moves...you've come to the wrong place

Chapter 5.0: Gym Challenge Part 1
-
"Hey, Mewtwo?"

The cat glanced up from his needlework and raised an eyebrow at the eevee who was staring at a League match on the computer screen.

"I want to do the Kanto Gym Challenge."

Mewtwo's needles stilled and he looked thoughtful before nodding.

"We can do that."

Sasha blinked in surprise. "Wait, seriously?"

Mewtwo grinned. "Of course. You're hardly the first pokémon who wanted to take the challenge and you're definitely not the first to be doing it themselves."

Sasha tilted her head. "I was expecting more resistance from you. Ya know, Mr. Seclusion and all that?"

Mewtwo waved a hand. "I've gotten used to it."

Sasha rolled her eyes and glanced back at the screen. "So…um…how do we register?"

With a wave of his hand, Mewtwo sent the keys on the computer typing away, navigating to the League homepage and filled out the forms.

Sasha checked them all carefully and nodded before Mewtwo sent it off.

Not five minutes later, they received the notice that the League tournament was being held in several months' time. Trainers who missed the deadline wouldn't have to earn their badges again, but they'd have to wait until the next tournament to participate.

"Well then, shall we start? I have the perfect gym in mind to start," Mewtwo replied, tucking his work away.

Sasha's head whirled from the sheer speed that everything had progressed at and she leaped into his arms as they teleported.

-

They reappeared in front of a set of sliding doors. Sasha glanced up at the building and read the sign.

"Pewter City?"

"It's one of the easier gyms of the region. The leader is a good friend of a friend of mine and he uses the Rock type," Mewtwo said, heading inside.

Sasha wrinkled her nose as the smell of earth assaulted her senses. "Ah, I can see why it'd be an easier gym. Good place to learn the basics of battling, since it takes a lot to take down a rock type, so newcomers can get some practice in."

The receptionist didn't even bat an eye at the sight of a legendary-level pokémon strolling through the doors and simply asked if they were there for a challenge.

A few minutes later and they were waved through.

-

Brock stood on one side of the gym arena.

Mewtwo and Sasha stood on the other.

"Last chance to back out," Mewtwo told Sasha, who shook her head, stepping forward.

"Hold on," Mewtwo said, causing Sasha to pause and look at him curiously. "Would you like me to hold your scarf?"

Sasha nodded and the psychic untied the fabric. Sasha stretched and took a breath before stepping onto the rocky field.

Brock fingered a pokéball, waiting for them patiently. He'd seen many trainers hesitate to even start the gym challenge and most gave up partway through. He smiled as the shiny eevee took her place on the battlefield.

"Alright, since I'm your first real gym leader, I'm going to take it easy on you."

Sasha bristled and she blinked as she felt Mewtwo's voice resonate in her mind.

"Relax, this challenge isn't going to be like the ones you've seen. Remember, it's just you out here. No one else is going to win the badge for you." She felt his mental presence shift uncomfortably before he added, "You could always ask for a harder challenge, but...let's just take things one step at a time, alright?"

"Geodude, let's have a gneiss battle!" Brock called, throwing the red and white sphere into the air, which burst open, revealing the armed sphere.

"...I'm not even going to tell you how bad that was," the geodude sighed. Taking notice of Sasha, it raised its rocky brows. "Who's the idiot who brought a normal type to a rock gym?"

Mewtwo coughed. Geodude did a double-take.

"Oh, hunh. So it's like that Raikou from way back when?"

"Correct. We're battling someone who basically has no badges, so...try not to pull an Ash, alright?" Brock said with a chuckle.

"That was...hm, a decade or more at this point, right?" the geodude mused, digging up a rock and hurling it at a thoroughly confused eevee.

"I feel so out of the loop," she complained, dodging the stone by leaping over it and fired off a series of star-shaped projectiles from her tail, which pinged uselessly off the rock type, who hurled mud at her in retaliation, knocking her out of the air.

Sasha got to her paws, shaking her head and wincing as she blinked rapidly, letting her eyes water and clear out the obstruction.

Geodude used the distraction to hurl smaller rocks at her, causing her to slip and fall.

"Any pointers would be helpful, you know," she grumbled at Mewtwo, who was watching the lopsided battle in amusement.

"You could always go umbree and use Metronome," he said. Sasha frowned.

"I'd rather not have to rely on that to win my battles," Sasha replied, doing a rapid spin to clear the rocks away from her. Shaking herself, her body glowed pink as she ran at the geodude. "So, let's try...this!" The rock/ground type crossed its arms as she rammed into it. The impact released the pink aura from her body, knocking the geodude back. Geodude recovered swiftly and shook its head, squinting.

"Secret Power, with the added bonus of reducing accuracy based on the rocky terrain. Not bad," Brock said approvingly. "Magnitude!"

Sasha's eyes went wide as the geodude slammed its hands on the ground, which erupted beneath her paws. Leaping over the cracks, Sasha landed on a large piece of the floor and fired off another Swift, which again pinged off the geodude's exterior.

"What I wouldn't give for elemental Swifts or something," Sasha growled.

"If it helps, they tickle a little bit," the geodude offered. Sasha blinked in surprise before she giggled.

"Alright, so you're a rock and ground type, so your physical defense is ridiculous. So that leaves moves that aren't physical...like..."

Sasha opened her mouth as a purple and black orb grew into existence in front of her face. It then grew to the size of her head and she fired it at the geodude who went flying backwards to slam into the wall.

Brock let out a low whistle. "That's quite a punch for someone so small...although, to be fair, I've raised a Happiny that could lift boulders, so..."

Shaking his head, he recalled his pokémon. "Usually, I'd send out my onix right about now, but since this is your first gym battle and your challenge isn't exactly normal..."

Mewtwo walked across the field, scooping Sasha up along the way as they approached Brock, who held out his hand.

"The Boulder Badge."

Mewtwo took the metal rock-shaped emblem and let Sasha examine it before he pinned it to her scarf and tied it around her neck.

"I'll call Misty and let her know to clear up her schedule. Any idea when you'll be heading to Cerulean?" Brock asked.

Mewtwo and Sasha exchanged a look.

"Three days?" Sasha suggested. Mewtwo nodded and Brock waved them off as they left the gym.

-

Sasha sat on the edge of the Cerulean Gym pool, staring warily at the small platforms scattered across the surface of the enclosed body of water.

"So not only am I battling a water type, they also have the home field advantage. Great," she muttered.

"Not all gym battles will be in your favor. Although yes, I do agree this is a little...excessive," Mewtwo replied, watching as a redheaded woman wearing a simple white jacket over a white and blue swimsuit walked out of a door on the opposite side of the pool. "Either way, your second battle is about to begin."

"Heya, Mewtwo," the girl called. "And the other one must be Sasha then. Welcome to Cerulean Gym. My name is Misty and your opponent will be..."

The water rippled and a giant form shot out of the water with a roar.

Sasha backpedaled furiously, eyes wide in horror. "A...a...that's a gyarados! Is she insane?! That's not even remotely fair!"

Misty chuckled. "No, don't worry, I don't use her for newbies. Vaporeon, stop scaring the poor thing and come on out!"

The gyarados dissolved into a shower of droplets to reveal the fish-themed eeveelution who grinned at Sasha. Mewtwo blinked in interest.

"Using water's light-bending properties to create illusions? Interesting."

Sasha willed her beating heart to still as she recovered. "That's a little better. Still not really a fan of the battlefield, but I guess I'll make do."

She leaped onto one of the platforms and wasn't surprised to find the surface slick.

"Any time you're ready," Misty said.

Sasha watched the vaporeon swim around her platform and frowned. She'd have to aim her attacks a little differently due to refraction. She fired off a Swift that surrounded the water type who didn't seem perturbed by the proximity of the star-shaped projectiles.

Sasha's frown deepened as the vaporeon shot her a cheeky grin and melted out of view, avoiding the attack.

"This is going to be much trickier," Sasha sighed. Her body glowed a bright golden yellow as her eyes blazed orange. A beam of energy shot up and hit the windows spaced throughout the ceiling.

Almost immediately, the temperature in the room rose dramatically.

"Sunny Day?" Misty grimaced. "Vaporeon, cool her off with Aurora Beam!"

Sasha looked at the water warily. The downside of the platforms was that her natural agility was hampered. She could jump from one to another, sure, but she'd be an open target in midair and while over the water.

"Boo," came a voice from behind her, shortly followed by a blast of cold.

Sasha was glad the vaporeon couldn't see her grin and her body briefly glowed white before dozens of eevee suddenly leaped from the platform, scattering in all directions.

Thanks to Sunny Day, the Aurora Beam wasn't nearly as powerful as it could've been. Sasha shook herself, thankful for the brief cooldown. She then watched the vaporeon's movements carefully as it swam around.

"Alright, vaporeon, let's get rid of this heat and those distractions. Hail!" Misty called.

A pair of glowing eyes flashed before dark clouds obscured the windows and the temperature plummeted. Sasha flicked her ears as hail bounced off her body.

"And here comes..." she muttered.

"Blizzard!"

Sasha braced herself as the blast of cold air slammed into her. Unfortunately, the slick surface of the platform iced over almost instantly and she fell into the water.

Mewtwo's eyed widened fractionally and he kept a careful tab on Sasha's aura signature, ready to teleport her if the need arose. At the same time, he idly took notice of a few people who had trickled in. Whether to watch the battle or challenge the gym next, he wasn't sure and he paid them no mind.

Sasha opened her eyes and blinked a few times. Thanks to the hail clouds, the water was much darker than usual. She hated to admit it, but she was out of her depth here and she only saw one possible course of action.

Tapping into the power sleeping in her, her body began to glow.

Mewtwo was starting to worry. Sasha had been under far too long, yet her heartbeat had remained calm. "Sasha?"

The surface of the pool started to bubble furiously, mist starting to form before it then shot upwards, striking the ceiling, sending hot water everywhere. Mewtwo flicked his paws out to shield himself and Misty from the waterfall and as the mist cleared, two shapes fell from the ceiling.

Misty's vaporeon landed hard on a platform, out cold while a white-furred, blue ringed umbreon landed awkwardly on another and shook itself, almost falling back into the water.

"What?" Misty asked blankly. Mewtwo wasn't entirely sure himself.

"Sasha?" he asked. "What happened?"

The umbreon shook her head, tilting it to get some water out of her ear. "Metronome. Not entirely sure what move that was. Only that it got very hot very quickly. I do feel rather tired though."

Misty recalled her vaporeon and walked over to Mewtwo and Sasha. Shaking her head, she chuckled ruefully.

"All these years later and I still manage to get surprised by new battle tactics. Well, either way, here's the Cascade Badge," she said, holding out the tear-shaped emblem, which Mewtwo took and pinned beside the Boulder Badge on Sasha's scarf before tying it around her neck again.

"Thank you for the battle," Sasha said, dipping her head. "Sorry about vaporeon. Hope I didn't hurt her too badly."

"She's been through worse," Misty said. "I'll let her know you were asking about her."

Sasha raised her eyebrows and Misty grinned at her.

Mewtwo's attention was focused on the people who had watched the battle. They were now absorbed in their various handhelds, no doubt talking about the battle.

"Here we go," he murmured. Sasha flicked her ears and looked at him questioningly. He nodded towards the bleachers and Sasha nodded, her mouth a thin line.

"Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later," she said with a resigned shrug. "No sense in worrying about it. Now then, shall we depart?"

(6.1)
Mewtwo stared around at the trees as he floated down the path, Sasha draped over his neck, heading towards Saffron from Cerulean.

"Alright, now we have some options. There's Sabrina in Saffron, Surge in Vermillion, Erika in Celadon, or we could take a break and go cry over the fact humans desecrated a graveyard to build a radio tower in Lavender Town," Mewtwo said, reading a sign on the side of the road.

Sasha blinked in surprise. "Take a break?"

"The League isn't for several months and we do have the ability to teleport," Mewtwo replied. "There's no rush." His gaze turned mischievous. "Unless you register days before the League, although I think they shut down registration a month before the League to prevent a crush of trainers."

"You think?" Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Contrary to popular belief, I am not omnipotent, omnipresent or omniscient," Mewtwo answered dryly.

"You're omnilinguistic."

"Not exactly what that word means, but I understand what you're trying to say."

Sasha smacked him lightly before pricking her ears as the undergrowth along the side of the road rustled and she nudged Mewtwo's head to get his attention. Jumping down from his shoulders, she called out.

"Is someone there?"

A pikachu wearing a cap poked its head out of the shrubbery and twitched its ears.

"Heya, Mewtwo," it said cheerfully. Mewtwo's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Hello, Ash. It's nice to meet you again."

"Hold up, you mean that's Ash Ketchum?" Sasha asked, confused. "I was expecting someone...taller. And human." Mewtwo chuckled as the pikachu scratched its head.

"He gets like this from time to time," Mewtwo explained, crouching down. Another pikachu jumped out of the bushes and waved to Mewtwo before thumping Ash on the head.

"You can't just go running off whenever you pick up a potentially familiar scent," the rodent chastised the human-turned-pokémon. "It's dangerous to go running off alone, even if you're Ash Ketchum."

"Sorry, Pikachu," Ash said sheepishly.

"So is this a pleasure jaunt or are you helping someone?" Mewtwo asked.

"The latter," Ash replied, adjusting his hat. "I'm working on something with Bill and Oak."

"What does turning into a pikachu have to do with that?" Sasha asked.

"It's not really something I understand, but if I'm asked for help, I rarely ever say no," Ash replied.

Mewtwo shook his head in amusement. "Ash knows what he's doing, Sasha. Even if we don't understand why. I'm sure he's on a tight schedule and we shouldn't keep him. Besides, you have more gym battles to get ready for."

Ash perked up. "Oh? Once I finish this up, I'm also getting ready to take the League challenge again. It's been a while and I'm always eager to face new challenges."

"Sasha's taking the gym challenge herself. Maybe we'll see you at the League in a few months?" Mewtwo asked. Ash and Pikachu turned to face the eevee, whose ears heated up.

"I've got two badges and trying to figure out which to tackle next," she said, turning her scarf up to reveal the emblems. Ash grinned.

"Awesome. Even if you don't make it to the finals, maybe we'll be matched up before then. If not, we can always have a battle outside the League," he said.

"I'd...like that," Sasha said, tail waving happily. "Good luck on your...uh...whatever it is."

"And you with your battles. Let's go, Pikachu!"

Mewtwo watched the duo zoom off as Sasha curled around his neck again.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting meeting. Wonder what problem required a transformation like that..."

Sasha shrugged. "Either way, I've made up my mind. Let's go give Surge a visit."

"If that is what you wish."

(6.2)
"I found Ash," Celebi said as it materialized in the Hall of Origin.

"Where was he this time?" Arceus asked, glancing up from its newspaper.

"He was a pikachu, helping out Professor Oak and Bill with something."

Arceus' face went blank. "Why was he a - never mind, that's not important. Send him to Alola. Neo Team Magma is stirring up trouble..."

Arceus' eyes narrowed. "Why isn't Ash with you?"

Celebi twisted its hands together nervously. "He said he wanted to train for the upcoming League."

"...I see. Guess I can't fault him for that. Everyone needs a break now and again." Arceus sighed, turning its head towards a series of time bubbles that showed present and future events. "There's plenty of time before things become desperate...although..."

The Original One glanced at a bubble showing a young blonde haired woman with a pikachu thoughtfully. "I'm sure she'd enjoy a vacation. Celebi?"

"Can I tell her why she's being given a vacation? I'd be suspicious if you ever suddenly gave me a week off."

Arceus wore a look of wounded innocence. "How was I supposed to know Wes and Ash would meet during your week off and leave you with an extra six years of paperwork? I said I was sorry."

The Alpha Pokémon glanced at Ash's time bubbles and was glad to see they were functioning correctly again. Even nearly a decade later, Cyrus's tampering with time and space was still being fixed. Dialga, Palkia and Giratina had been working around the clock to piece everything back together. Arceus smiled slightly, proud of his children and their work ethic.

Speaking of which...

"Mew, stop playing solitaire and get back to work!"

(6.3)
Sasha stared around the opulent accommodations, trying to take it all in.

"So…this is all for us?" she asked, jumping onto the bed and floundered as she sunk into the plush covers.

Mewtwo chuckled, carefully extricating the eevee from the bed. "I contacted a friend of mine and she was kind enough to set us up with…I suppose you could call it a base of operations or something."

Sasha wrinkled her nose. "Sounds rather technical if it's just a place for us to relax between badges or whatever. Why didn't you do this earlier?"

"You mean when I first found you? Eh…I have my reasons," Mewtwo said evasively. Sasha's eyebrows rose.

"Let's see if I can't puzzle it out…" The eevee looked around the room slowly. "We're in Saffron, home to the psychic Sabrina. If I remember correctly, you said she helped you during your early years, getting a handle on your powers, right?"

Mewtwo nodded warily.

"So, she set aside a place for you to come to if you ever needed it, in a place where she holds a lot of sway, so people wouldn't pester her about it, especially given her temperament."

Mewtwo sighed, rubbing his temples. "You should open up a detective agency."

Sasha snorted, shaking her head. "No thanks. Now then, I'd like to take a look around. Would you like to join me?"

Now it was Mewtwo's turn to shake his head. "I've still got some business to take care of. Should be done with it by the time you get back. Go, explore. There's plenty to see and do in Saffron, whether you're human or pokémon."

Sasha frowned before nodding. "Very well. I'll see you tonight then."

(6.4)
Arceus paced around the Hall of Origin, deep in thought.

It stopped when it heard the familiar sound of a dimensional hole opening and turned to see a thoroughly exhausted celebi come through.

"What news?"

"We've stabilized the time around groudon and kyogre while managing to weave rayquaza's actions into the narrative. It's now thanks to rayquaza's interference that groudon and kyogre's feud was ended," the celebi replied.

"So you couldn't recover Ash's involvement?" Arceus asked, causing the celebi to shake its head. "So that's another changed scenario."

"Well, if Cyrus wanted Ash to lose his fame and be able to live a relatively normal life, he succeeded," Celebi said, going over a stack of notes. "Those Time Crashes he pulled off were...mind-boggling. Even Dialga is unsure of its ability to repair them and in ten years we've restored, what, maybe a quarter of the damage?"

"Were it not for parallel dimensions, we'd probably be in a lot more trouble," Arceus agreed. "Still, the progress you've made is wonderful."

Celebi sighed and rubbed its antenna tiredly. "Guess I better go tell Ash about this so he doesn't accidentally tell someone he saved Hoenn."

With a pop, the time traveling onion fairy vanished and Arceus was once again alone.

(6.5)
Mewtwo stirred the pot of soup a few times before turning the stove off. Leaving the kitchen, he approached the couch and stared at the pile of blankets that occupied one of end of it.

"Your soup will be ready in a few minutes, your highness," he announced. A red nose poked itself out of the blankets shortly followed by the rest of the head of a grumpy eevee.

"I hate the cold," Sasha muttered. Mewtwo crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame.

"Not surprising, given what you've gone through," Mewtwo replied. "Seems like you're not comfortable around either end of the temperature spectrum."

Sasha blinked and shook her head slowly. "Usually I'd berate you for making fun of someone's traumatic experiences, but I'm too tired to think of a comeback at the moment."

Mewtwo winced, rubbing his arm. "Right...sorry."

Sasha sneezed and Mewtwo closed the distance between them, snagging a box of tissues along the way. Dabbing at the eevee's face, he cupped her face and kissed her forehead lightly, causing Sasha's ears to warm and she squirmed.

"The perks of you being sick is that you can't escape my attention," Mewtwo said with a grin. Sasha stuck her tongue out at him.

With a thought, Mewtwo poured the soup into a bowl, fetched a spoon and guided it into the room. Taking the bowl and spoon, he fed Sasha small sips and she relaxed, eyes half-closed in contentment.

"Seriously, your ability to cook is something else," she murmured drowsily. Mewtwo stared into the broth for a moment and shrugged. Sasha nibbled on the noodles and quietly drank the rest of the bowl before settling back.

"You're welcome, Sasha," Mewtwo said quietly as the eevee swiftly fell asleep. He watched her for a few minutes before retreating to the privacy of his own rooms.

He hadn't expected the eevee to stick around after recovering and he found himself having mixed feelings about the prospect of her leaving. The clone ran a hand over his face with an irritated growl and stared at the various things he'd picked up over the years, pictures and souvenirs from his many adventures.

Mewtwo stared at a picture of a dark haired woman for a moment before his eyes fell to the simple necklace arrayed in front of it.

Turning his back on the old memories, Mewtwo curled up on his bed and drifted off to sleep.

-
Oh hey, glimpses of a bigger plot and the connection to Ashes of the Past starts to come into focus.

Chapter 7 - Gym Challenge Part 2

Sasha stared at Lt. Surge's raichu curiously.

"What? You never seen an Alolan raichu before?" the mouse asked. Sasha shook her head and the electric-type grinned.

"Well then, you're in for a treat."

"Alright raichu, let's start things off with Electric Terrain!" Lt. Surge called.

Electricity poured from the raichu's cheeks, coating the entire field in a yellow glow. Sasha's paws tingled and her fur prickled uncomfortably.

"Mega kick, and mega punch," Lt. Surge commanded.

The raichu blurred from Sasha's vision and she was then launched into the air by a vicious kick to her chest. Her world went black as her back exploded with pain and she was out cold before she slammed into the ground.

Mewtwo winced in sympathy as the field went back to normal. Walking forward, he knelt by the eevee and gently touched her body. Nothing was broken, but she'd have some nasty bruises.

"Oh dear, did I overdo it?" the raichu asked, peering close. Mewtwo sighed and shook his head.

"No, it's not your fault. She wasn't ready for this."

Lt. Surge handed Mewtwo a revive and Mewtwo waved it under Sasha's nose and she woke up coughing. She met Mewtwo's eyes and her ears twitched.

"You should see the other guy," she murmured dazedly. Raichu snorted softly and Sasha blinked, eyes focusing. Mewtwo picked her up and she let out a hiss of pain.

"We'll see you around," Mewtwo said politely before teleporting to the pokémon center.

Handing Sasha over to the care of the nurses, Mewtwo then teleported to their apartment and picked up his knitting before teleporting back and took a seat beside her bed.

-

A few days later saw Sasha recovering nicely, safely ensconced back in the Saffron apartment.

"I've been doing some thinking and have come to an interesting conclusion," Mewtwo said. Sasha flicked her ears and stretched her limbs carefully, pleased that it no longer actively pained her to do so.

"And what would that be?" Sasha asked warily.

"Your pseudo-evolution is the result of your body manipulating evolution energy for a temporary boost in power. So in theory, items that regulate such energy should allow you some more control over it, such as eviolite or an everstone."

"Okay..." Sasha said slowly. "Interesting theory, but seems hard to test. Where would we get those kinds of items?"

One quick teleport later had the duo standing in the foyer of...

"Celadon Department Store," Mewtwo replied with a wave of his hand. "Items imported from all over the world. Odds are we'll find what we need here."

"And how would we pay for it?" Sasha asked.

Mewtwo rolled his eyes. "You'd be surprised at how lucrative saving the world is."

"So your state of poverty is a farce." Sasha snorted.

Mewtwo frowned and shook his head. "Much like you, I don't have much need for material goods, so I just let the money gather dust in a bank somewhere."

Sasha arched a brow. "And paying for food and bills?"

Mewtwo shrugged with an amused smirk. "I don't really have to follow human laws as long as I'm not actively breaking them."

"Your way of thinking scares me sometimes."

"Thank you. Now then, let's see if we can't get you some bling."

Four floors and two hundred thousand grand lighter later, Sasha was the proud owner of a new collar fitted with an eviolite. The duo left the store and went outside of the city limits to practice.

"Give it a try," Mewtwo said, stepping back. Sasha closed her eyes before she was surrounded by a brief flash of light. Her form elongated and doubled in size before the light faded to reveal the umbreon.

"It's definitely faster," she said, pleased, tail wagging happily. She stretched a few times and purred. "And I'm fully healed. Time for round two against Lt. Surge?"

"If you think you're ready," Mewtwo replied, stepping closer.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You're most welcome."

Sasha scowled and took a swipe at him. To her surprise, dark shadowy claws scythed through the air. Mewtwo easily caught them with a telekinetic barrier and frowned.

"What were you thinking about when you did that?" Mewtwo asked curiously.

"I was thinking Shadow Claw and felt very cross with you," Sasha replied. "Why?"

"Your ability to use Metronome came into play and allowed you to pull it off, bypassing the usual roulette wheel of choosing a move."

"No more random chance? No more setting myself on fire? No more explosions?" Sasha asked with glee.

"You will be the envy of RNG manipulators everywhere."

"What?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Mewtwo replied with a small grin. Scooping Sasha into his arms, they teleported.

-

"Alright Raichu, let's show 'em how it's done!" Lt. Surge called, tossing his pokéball into the air.

Sasha took her place on the oddly smooth field, stretching her limbs as she gazed around, taking note of the small group of spectators sitting to each side of the field. Putting them out of her mind, she returned her gaze to her opponent.

"Begin!" the ref called.

"Electric Terrain!" Surge called. Electricity flowed from the mouse's cheeks like a waterfall, coating the entire field in a yellow glow. Sasha's paws tingled as she watched her opponent carefully.

"Well, no sense in waiting around," she muttered, lunging towards the raichu. She swung her body around, stars shooting out of her tail. The raichu hopped onto its tail, tilting the flat side to block the projectiles.

"One of these days that's going to work," Sasha sighed, landing on her paws.

"Tail Slap!" Surge barked.

The raichu angled its body towards Sasha. In the blink of an eye, it had closed the distance between then and Sasha leaped backwards, avoiding the first strike. Raichu tugged on its cord-like tail before sending it scything back towards the eevee, striking the smaller 'mon. Sasha yelped as the tail discharged electricity through the brief contact.

Before Raichu could retract its tail, Sasha grabbed it as a purple and black orb of energy swiftly formed in front of her face and she fired off the shadow ball at the startled raichu, sending it sprawling.

"Double-edged sword, that tail of yours is," Sasha noted, shaking herself free of excess electricity. The raichu recovered quickly, jumping back on its tail, watching her warily.

"Thunder!" Surge commanded. Raichu lifted its paws, causing lightning to flow upwards from the field to condense in the air. Sasha tried to use Dig, but she still couldn't get past the electricity covering the ground.

"Son of a-" Sasha hissed, glancing up before she leaped backwards to avoid the massive thunderbolt. She watched as it disrupted the electric field and took a chunk of out the ground. She took note of the ruined ground and grinned.

Looking around, she caught sight of her opponent standing on the field, panting.

"Apparently Thunder takes a lot of energy," Mewtwo mused. "That, and it has to keep Electric Terrain active. That's some pretty impressive control, if you think about it."

"Great, now's my chance," Sasha purred. With a flash of light, the eevee transformed. She slammed her paws on the electric-coated field and there was an ominous rumble.

Shards of rock suddenly tore through the weak electricity and slammed into the raichu, knocking it out of the air.

Closing the gap between them, Sasha leaped into the air and fired off a Swift, hammering the mouse with projectiles from above, pinning it down.

When the smoke cleared, Sasha was pleased to see the raichu was out cold.

"Hunh…didn't think what everyone said was true," Surge remarked, striding over to Mewtwo. Sasha joined them and Mewtwo tied her scarf around her neck, covering her collar and eviolite.

"Thanks for the battle. Uh…sorry about the field," Sasha said sheepishly, glancing at the wrecked field. Surge waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. You're not the first to use ground type moves against me. Nor will you be the last," Surge said with a sigh. "Congratulations."

Sasha jumped into Mewtwo's arms as the clone accepted the badge, pinning it to Sasha's scarf.

They bid Surge farewell and teleported away.

-

"Not gonna lie, I'm actually impressed you managed to get yourself banned from the Celadon Gym," Mewtwo said to his sulking companion.

"How was I supposed to know a fire move would ignite all the pollen in the air?" Sasha grumbled into Mewtwo's chest. "Not my fault they hadn't aired it out in a few months. How am I gonna get my required gym badges now?"

"Relax, Sasha," Mewtwo said, stroking over her soothingly. "There's more than eight gyms in Kanto and technically speaking, you don't really need eight badges to enter the League."

Sasha tilted her head. "What?"

"You could challenge some of the lesser-known gyms throughout the countryside. I think there's at least Bug and Dark type gyms to challenge. Or if you're truly desperate, you could take one of the grueling League tests for entry, which is a test that goes on for several hours with hundreds of questions. I think it's more to test your endurance and patience than an actual test of your battling prowess. I've know some of those trainers who take it to be scary powerful."

Sasha shook her head. "I'll stick with gyms, if you don't mind. I've not been around long enough to answer most of the questions they'd throw at me."

Mewtwo chuckled and rubbed her ears. "Fair enough. I'll do some research and pull up some alternatives, alright?"

"Thank you."

love how you just so naturally slip little bits of humor into the narrative

"You will be the envy of RNG manipulators everywhere."

Arceus asked, glancing up from its newspaper.

Click to expand...

lol

Nah said:

love how you just so naturally slip little bits of humor into the narrative

Click to expand...

Arceus takes its crosswords very seriously
I like the image of some legendary pokemon being giant all-powerful children, much to the exasperation of the "older" legendaries

Or else Arceus isn't as cold-hearted as some are led to believe

There's some dark bits in this chapter - death and traumatic experiences in (8.4)

-

(8.1)

Sasha wandered around the depths of Lostlorn forest, searching for berries.

Everywhere she looked, the bushes seemed to be picked clean and she wondered if Zoroark was playing a trick on her. She nudged a bush and scowled as it remained bare.

She heard a rustle in the undergrowth and felt a chill crawl down her spine. Swallowing her fear, she glanced around, senses straining to pick up anything. When nothing revealed itself, she let out an irritated snort before turning back-

The bush was covered in berries.

Sasha stared at the drooping bush in disbelief before poking it gently, causing several berries to fall off and bump against her paws.

"They're not going to bite you."

Sasha jumped in surprise as a voice spoke from out of nowhere. She inadvertently sat on some berries and winced before lifting her dripping haunches off the squashed fruit.

"Good job undoing all my hard work. Although blue suits you nicely."

"Show yourself," Sasha snapped, drying herself off to the best of her ability.

With a muted pop, Arceus came into view, sitting comfortably amidst the grass.

"Hello, Sasha," it said evenly. "I trust you are well?"

Sasha glanced at her legs, now stained blue and shrugged. "I've been better."

Arceus' eyes flashed and Sasha knew she was no longer discolored.

"What brings you here?" asked the eevee.

"Just checking in. I always do that from time to time with both my Chosen and Blessed."

"What's the difference?" Sasha asked, sitting down and choosing a berry to nibble on. "Between Chosen and Blessed, I mean."

Arceus blinked slowly. "I thought it was obvious. A Chosen is picked to defend the world I created. A Blessed is one who I merely give some of my power."

"Sounds like the Blessed got the better end of the deal," Sasha remarked.

Arceus chuckled lowly. "You've certainly mastered your alternate Forme. I saw your match against Ash. Not bad for one against six."

Sasha blushed and sank her teeth into the berry. "I got lucky," she muttered, ears warming.

"Luck doesn't beat four pokémon, two of which regularly deal with apocalyptic scenarios, such as helping to prevent the erasure of time and space," Arceus pointed out.

"Metronome was pure luck. I spun the roulette and was handed the means to make a name for myself," Sasha said, finishing off the berry.

Arceus shook its head. "I'm still not sure if that's you being humble or self-deprecating. Knowing your stubbornness and reluctance to rely on eviolite's power to control Metronome, the latter."

"Mewtwo said the same," Sasha said, smiling slightly before tilting her head. "How's he been?"

"Buried in his research," Arceus replied. "Last I heard, he's in Orre, making sure the wild pokémon are settling down."

Sasha's face softened and she smiled. "That's good. I-"

She was interrupted by a small pink head poking itself through the bushes before letting out an exasperated groan.

"Finally! I've been looking all over for you, Lord Arceus. Mt. Silver just exploded. Again. Red and Yellow are there, but we kinda need your help."

Arceus stood, nodded to Sasha and vanished in a flash of light.

Sasha chuckled, shaking her head as she gathered some berries together to take back to her den. "Some things never change."

(8.2)

"Absolutely not."

"Oh come on, it's not like you're doing anything important lately," Mew said, hovering around the large pokémon.

"Keeping tabs on the world is very important!" Arceus protested.

"How many Chosen Ones do you have running around per region noawadays? Red, Yellow, Gold, Kris, May, Lucas, Wes, Touko, Kyouhei, Calem...and that's not bringing your Blessed Pokémon into play. You need to learn to relax," Mew replied patiently.

"How is giving massages relaxing to me?" Arceus grumbled.

"Because instead of focusing on ten thousand things, you only need to focus on one or two dozen," Mew said cheerfully.

"You're not going to stop until I at least try, are you?" Arceus said with a sigh.

A few hours later saw the return of Celebi.

"Lord Arceus, I-what are you doing?"

Arceus tilted its head as Celebi stared at it in disbelief.

"I'm relaxing, as my creations keep telling me to."

Celebi glared at the Mew curled up on Arceus' back that was being petted by phantasmal hands.

"Must be nice not having responsibilities," Celebi grumbled bitterly. Mew opened an eye.

"You're a time traveler. You don't have to work every second of every day."

"I'm aware, but-"

Celabi broke off in surprise as a time portal opened up and a tired Celebi popped out. Looking around, it let out a grunt before flopping beside Mew and soon dozed off as Arceus petted it.

"Since I don't remember doing that, I'm guessing that's me from the future."

"Correct, now shut up and get over here. We've got a few hours before I come back and do this again," the other celebi replied drowsily.

"You realize I'm only going to do this every once in a while and only for a few hours, right?"

The room shook and suddenly Dialga and Groudon appeared.

"FATHER, I HAVE HEARD YOU ARE GIVING MASSAGES!"

"Mother of me, have mercy."

(8.3)

"Alright, you've mentioned Ash Ketchum before. What's the story with him?" Sasha asked.

Mewtwo let out a long breath and chuckled. "Not gonna lie, even the cliff notes of his journey is ridiculously long, but I'll see if I can't hit the important parts."

Mewtwo stroked over Sasha's fur as he spoke. "Some whackjob named Cyrus succeeded in his plan to remake the world. Arceus said "Screw that." and tossed Ash into a pocket dimension to train his aura before sending him back to the start of his journey. Armed with foreknowledge and some frankly ludicrously overpowered pokémon who laughed at reality, he set out on a journey to prevent Cyrus from unleashing his plan."

"And the reason Arceus didn't do it itself?" Sasha asked.

"It was taking a nap, I believe," Mewtwo replied dryly. "During their climactic battle, Cyrus shattered time and space, throwing a large chunk of the multiverse into chaos. It took the combined efforts of several dimensions' worth of legendary pokémon to stop Cyrus and stabilize the fractures. Some dimensions were lost, unfortunately."

Sasha winced. "But...numerous dimensions?"

"Things like gender swaps, species swaps. Worlds where one type didn't exist or a new type was discovered. Just about anything you could imagine managed to exist simultaneously alongside everything else. It was...quite spectacular. Unfortunately, as a result of the stabilization process, every universe had to merge some bits and pieces together, whether it was events that happened or pokémon that existed...believe me, words can't properly explain exactly what happened during that time."

"Pokémon that existed? I know you said some didn't, but..."

"I woke up one day with memories that weren't mine. Experiences and feelings that my mind remembered, but my body did not." Mewtwo replied, gazing at his paws before flexing them with a grimace.

Sasha blinked in surprise before she glanced over at the dresser on the far wall. Mewtwo watched her as she got to her paws and made her way over to it.

"So is that what you have this necklace with a picture of this woman in it?" she asked, pawing at it. It flew from the dresser to Mewtwo's paw and he stroked it gently.

"Correct. We were friends in one life. I've also got memories of spending time with Amber Fuji as a little girl, despite the fact she passed away nearly three decades ago shortly after my creation. Anything before a decade ago, I don't fully trust. That's another reason I went back into seclusion and we know how that turned out."

"Do you regret meeting me?" Sasha asked, making her way back over to the clone.

"...If you had asked me that a few months ago, I would've said yes. Now...no, I don't regret getting to know you." Mewtwo admitted, cupping her cheek and stroking it as he kissed her forehead.

"Thanks. It's nice knowing more about what you've been through. Doesn't it feel better to share your stories with others?" Sasha asked.

Mewtwo chuckled and resumed stroking over her.

(8.4)

Mewtwo liked to think he had long ago mastered his emotions and was able to keep a clear and level head no matter the circumstances.

Meeting Archer face to face reminded him he still had a long way to go.

Sasha had spent enough time around the clone to be able to at least guess his current mood and she'd never seen him this angry.

He didn't show it on the surface, but the way his entire body was tensed, tail lashing, mental voice like nails on a chalkboard...

She found herself unconsciously edging away from the enraged psychic.

"You disgust me," Mewtwo said quietly, arms crossed tightly over his chest. "Giovanni at least understood the importance of pokémon. You...say that what you're doing is carrying on his legacy when in reality you are spitting on everything Team Rocket stands for."

Mewtwo shook his head slowly before extending a paw towards the Rocket Executive. With a click, Archer's pokéballs opened up, releasing their occupants in a shower of blue light, signaling their complete release from the pokéball's control.

With absolutely no hesitation, the houndour, wheezing, golbat and houndoom bolted out of the room. Archer merely narrowed his eyes.

"You think I'm scared of you? Giovanni's failed experiment? It doesn't matter what you do to me, Giovanni's vision will come true some day! You'll see that I was right! Team Rocket wil-!"

Mewtwo clenched his digits together and Archer collapsed in a heap.

Mewtwo stared at the corpse for a moment before he turned and strode from the room.

Sasha watched him go, legs trembling. She edged away from the cooling body and staggered out of the room before she collapsed. She drew in ragged breaths and fought back the urge to throw up.

"I'm sorry you had to see that."

Sasha jerked at the sound of Mewtwo's voice and she slammed into the wall. Taking a step back, she shook her head, trying to reorient herself. She turned to stare up at him and she took a step away from him. Catching herself, she scowled at her weakness and took a shaky breath.

"It's over, r-right?" she asked. "You're y-yourself again?"

Mewtwo blinked in surprise before he took in her frightened appearance and his face softened.

"Come on," he said gently, kneeling down. "Let's go somewhere familiar."

He held out a paw and Sasha stared at it for a moment before resting hers on it.

With a brief moment of disorientation, they appeared in a dappled sunlit clearing. Sasha took a breath and pricked her ears.

"Lostlorn...you..."

She let out a sigh and sat down, head and ears low.

"I lost control, and for that, I apologize," Mewtwo said, taking a few steps away from her,

Sasha shook her head. "It's not your fault," she said tiredly. "We had a chance to take out one of Team Rocket's poisonous branches and we took it. What's done is done."

"I shouldn't have brought you along."

"I had just as much right to be there as you did," Sasha said sharply, glaring at him. Just as quickly as it had come, the anger drained out of her.

"It's over, that's all that matters," Mewtwo replied wearily. He sat down beside her and stroked her ears soothingly. Sasha leaned into him and sighed.

"So that's Team Rocket finally out of the picture," she said. Mewtwo nodded slowly.

"I'm sure Giovanni will be happy to have a scapegoat to pin the less-than-legal operations on. Knowing him, he'll turn it into a business opportunity."

Despite everything, Sasha giggled.

8.5

"Pay up," Arceus said with a mental smirk.

Celebi sighed and handed over several rare berries. "Not fair. Of course you'd know what Sasha would do in the future because you can look into all possible futures simultaneously whereas I can only see one at a time."

Arceus managed to inject some hurt into its mental voice. "Nonsense; just because I know every future of my Chosen and Blessed, it doesn't mean I know which is set in stone."

Celebi scowled at the creator and shook its head. "Unbelievable. You predicted her loss to the raichu, tailored her ability to be controlled by the eviolite back when you first gave it to her and now you're fleecing berries off me over the fact she set a gym on fire."

"You're the one who takes the bets," Arceus replied innocently.

"So now what? Double or nothing on which gym she gets other badges from?"

"You're on."

-
What mood whiplash?

(9.1)
Sabrina gazed at the pictures she'd seen circulating the Internet of a shiny eevee and a mewtwo that had been challenging the Kanto gyms pensively.

She still wasn't entirely sure why she'd agreed to giving them a place to stay in her city. Rubbing her head, she got to her feet and went to the kitchen to pour herself a drink.

"Natsume."

Startled, she turned to see a pair of glowing purple eyes staring at her from the shadows.

"Mewtwo," she greeted. "Don't you know that it's poor manners to sneak into a lady's home?"

"You and I both know you'd have tuned your barriers to at least discourage me from entering if you truly wanted to be alone," Mewtwo replied, stepping into view, arms crossed over his chest.

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. "Hm...what brings you here?"

Her eyes darted towards the windows, closing the curtains with a thought and she then moved towards her liquor cabinet. "I'm afraid I don't have anything you'd like-" Without turning to look at him, she added, "-and you already brought a drink you do like with you, haven't you?"

"You know me so well," Mewtwo replied, a bottle popping into view. Sabrina rubbed her head with a sigh.

"Ever since that event ten years ago, I've been sorting through my memories to figure out which were mine and which belong to other Sabrina and Natsume."

Mewtwo sighed and placed a glass of wine on the counter beside her. "Everyone involved in that event left with memories not their own."

He found his hand reaching for her and he pulled it against his chest with a frown. Sabrina turned to look at him, scooping up the wine as she did do.

"Didn't help that you disappeared almost immediately afterwards. There are people who could've benefited from your psychic powers in sorting through the memories."

"I'm sorry."

Sabrina laughed and took a sip. "Maybe now you are, after you've had all this time to forget it."

Mewtwo grimaced and looked away.

"So where's that eevee of yours?"

"Sleeping. She's had a rough few weeks and is taking it easy."

Sabrina rested a hand on a tilted hip and leaned against the counter. "And when will you...she be stopping by to challenge me?"

"When she's ready, I suspect." Mewtwo replied, avoiding her eyes.

Sabrina snorted. "Liar."

"Yes, I've been avoiding you. Mainly for this exact reason," Mewtwo said lightly. "We both have memories that aren't ours of times neither of us are completely comfortable with-"

He broke off as Sabrina rested a hand on his chest and stroked it in a way that was both achingly familiar, yet completely foreign.

He didn't pull away as she leaned against him, breath warm on his fur.

"Nats-Sabrina, wha-?"

"You'll feel a lot better if you stop fighting the memories and accept them," she murmured, hand gently scratching over his chest. "Let them help you create new memories."

A flood of images flashed through Mewtwo's mind and his hand gently cupped Sabrina's cheek as their eyes met.

"...Very well. Will you show me once again how to be comfortable in my own head?"

Sabrina smiled and led him to the bedroom.

-

(9.2)
"Hey Mewtwo, how old are you?"

The bipedal feline tapped a finger on his chin in thought for a few moments before shrugging.

"With the nature of the time crash coupled with the restoration process, I honestly couldn't begin to guess. However," he said, lifting his paw to forestall Sasha's protest, "Before the whole timeline got screwed, I was about five years old, give or take a few months."

Mewtwo counted off on his fingers a few times. "Add in the years during and after the time crash...I'd say I'm some two and a half decades old?"

He gazed at the eevee curiously. "Why did you want to know?"

Sasha's ears warmed and she looked away. "You just seem older sometimes."

"Does it bother you?"

Sasha shook her head. "Nah, I was born some...fifteen years ago myself, give or take a few months. Don't remember much of it, just what I told you before. Spent some time wandering the regions and meeting all kinds of interesting people before I wound up frozen on a mountain."

"You've yet to tell me why you were there. That was after you got your power, correct?"

Sasha shifted uncomfortably. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"...Very well. I will not pry."

Sasha swiped a paw across her eyes. "Thank you."

-

(9.3)
Sasha stared at the sword lodged in a stone warily.

"Look, I'd love to help you, but I've read way too many accounts of swords pulled from stones where the sucker who does it then gets dragged into quests and stuff that isn't me, so..."

"Seriously? I'm just in a bit of a pickle is all. Nothing is going to happen if you pull me out," the sword-shaped pokémon answered. "Besides, Aegislash is never gonna let me hear the end of it."

Sasha walked around the honedge carefully before she placed her paws on the flat of the blade and pushed.

"Gyah! Are you trying to snap me in two?!"

Sasha backed off, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Just trying to see if I can't loosen you up."

She shook her head. "I suppose I could smash the rock to free you. A little larger than I'm used to, but it shouldn't take too long..." She rested a paw on her scarf and let out a breath.

One flash of light later and the honedge found itself staring at an umbreon.

"That's a new one on me," the sword replied. "Never seen an eevee capable of Mega Evolution."

"It's a little more complicated than that, but I suppose that's an acceptable analogy. Now hold still. Actually, might wanna use Protect or Iron Defense or whatever."

The sword glowed a few times and Sasha then fired off a focus blast, taking a sizable chunk out of the rock.

A few blasts and brick breaks later, the honedge shook the dust from its blade.

"My thanks to you, young eevee. You've spared me quite the embarrassment from the rest of my family."

Sasha looked around before shrugging. "Not gonna lie, I was sure your folks would've popped out of the bushes going, 'Haha, we saw it all!'"

She waved as the sword floated away.

-

(9.4)
Giovanni considered himself an honest man leading a dishonest life.

Even the whole "multiple memories" thing didn't slow him down; he merely sorted through them, discarding the bits and pieces that didn't work and kept the bits that would allow his wealth and power to grow.

When Mewtwo had come out of seclusion once again, Giovanni had hoped he'd be able to get the clone back on his side. Like the last times he'd tried, it had backfired. To add insult to injury, Archer's splinter group had also targeted the Clone despite Giovanni's explicit orders not to.

Giovanni wasn't surprised to hear of Archer's demise a short while ago and he secretly applauded Mewtwo for sparing him the task of offing the idiot himself.

Lacing his fingers together, Giovanni rested his head on them as he let his mind wander. All of Team Rocket's projects - legal and otherwise - were proceeding as planned. Nothing major had bothered the region in the past decade. Just the usual intra-regional conflicts, such as trainers getting too full of themselves and minor acts of vandalism.

He'd been somewhat amused when he heard Erika's gym had nearly burned down.

Again.

He glanced at the drawer where he kept character files and pulled it open. Leafing through to the M's, he pulled it out and flicked through it, pausing on the sheets chronicling the clone's current journey. He stared at the pictures of the shiny eevee he had picked up some seven or eight months prior.

"You've changed, old friend," Giovanni murmured. "Used to be you cared only for yourself. What's so special about this one?"

He rubbed his head as images from a mind not his own passed by and he frowned.

"You were a fool, Cyrus, reaching for power that was never ours to take."

He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

"I need a vacation."

A rare smile passed over his face and he got the necessary paperwork in order.

Replacements, delegates and insurance was put into motion and the head of Team Rocket was on a helicopter bound for Saffron within the hour.

-

(9.5)
Sasha stared at the female mewtwo curiously. Had she not been told by Mewtwo he'd be bringing a date home, she'd never have guessed her to be female.

On the bright side, she'd have no problem telling her Mewtwo from the other, due to the color of their coats; the female was a brighter shade of grayish-lilac compared to the male.

Sasha pondered why her mind had decided on that particular choice of words to describe the Mewtw oshe was living with and pushed it to the back of her mind as the female clone spoke.

{Hello. My name is Rei. Mewtwo told me he had a...roommate and I was curious as to what he meant by that.} She let her gaze wander over Sasha's body and she tsked in thought. {I'm glad to see you've recovered.}

Sasha nodded curtly. "I'm grateful for his help, but I really don't plan on sticking around."

Rei tilted her head. {Why?}

"Because..." Sasha's voice trailed off and she shook her head. "It's none of your business."

Rei was silent for a few moments and she nodded. {If that is what you decide.}

Mewtwo stood in the doorway, watching the two females stare at each other. Something kept him from entering or making himself known and he watched as Sasha abruptly got to her paws and went to her room. Waiting a few seconds, Mewtwo slowly entered the room.

"What was that about?" he asked warily.

Rei jumped a bit and glanced at him before glancing after the eevee. {She seemed troubled by my presence.}

Mewtwo blinked in bemusement. "Is that so? She never stuck me as the jealous type."

Rei tilted her head. {Jealous? You mean she's attracted to you?}

Mewtwo shrugged. "She wouldn't be the first and it's something I've gotten used to. Sometimes it works out. Other times..." His voice trailed off and he ran a hand over his face, sighing.

Rei touched his arm gently and rested her forehead against his. {Enough about her. I'd like to know about you.}

Mewtwo smiled and gazed into her eyes. "Over twenty years ago, in a faraway jungle, a group of scientists discovered some ancient ruins..."

Chapter 10
-
Sasha and Mewtwo entered the gym in a town neither of them could pronounce the name to and stared.

"Hello, Sasha," Arceus said cheerfully. A sullen Celebi peered over Arceus' shoulder and huffed.

"Don't mind Celebi. She's grumpy she didn't win our bet."

"There's eighteen gyms in Kanto and you found Sasha on your fifth whereas she didn't show up at the six I chose," Celebi grumbled.

"...A few months ago, I was irritated at other pokémon turning my life into a game. Now I'm not even that bothered by it," Sasha remarked. "Hello, Lord Arceus. How have you been?"

Arceus chuckled and got to its feet. "I have been well, thank you. You're here to challenge the gym, correct?"

Sasha nodded. Mewtwo gazed around at the decor and wrinkled his nose.

"I see Blaine's been redecorating. I don't like it."

"Bah!"

Startled, Mewtwo turned to see an older man standing behind him, leaning on a cane.

"You young'uns and your attitude! Nothing is ever good enough for you. Well, you may be a legendary on par with the creation trio and able to go toe-to-toe with Arceus itself, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna tolerate your sass or go easy on you!"

He walked past Mewtwo and offered a nod to Arceus.

"M'lord," he said politely. Reaching a set of doors, he unlocked them.

"Whenever you're ready, come on inside."

The doors closed behind him and silence reigned.

"Well, that was certainly something to see. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick out berries to give away," Celebi said.

"I like the spicy ones," Arceus said, getting to its feet.

"You'll take what I give you."

As the time traveling onion fairy left, Sasha shook her head.

"Well, hopefully Blaine won't sic a Magmorter on me. Actually, might be a good idea to tell him that I'm the one who's doing the challenge, don't you think?"

Mewtwo nodded. "Of course. Wouldn't want you to jump in over your head."

Bidding Arceus farewell, the duo followed Blaine.

"Not what I was expecting, to be honest," Sasha remarked as she and Mewtwo got a look at the gym.

"Agreed," Mewtwo said.

A simple field greeted them, like those found outside pokemon centers.

"Hmph," Blaine said, taking his place on the other side of the field. "Figures you wouldn't appreciate it. If it's not flashy, it's worthless, right?"

"Not...exactly," Mewtwo replied as Sasha took her place on the field. "I was expecting...more fire. A pit of lava, maybe."

Blaine laughed as he sent out his pokemon, a flareon, who shook out its fur and grinned at Sasha.

"All that does is drastically increase gym maintenance costs and I have to fill out reams of paperwork in the event of...accidents. No thanks. I'll stick with the simple approach," Blaine said, leaning on his cane.

The flareon opened the match with a flamethrower that Sasha met with a barrage of Swift stars.

"Never figured out why pokemon didn't just keep stream-based attacks going to push through single-hit or projectile attacks," Sasha said as she dodged a headbutt from the other pokemon before retaliating with a bite of her own.

The two eeveelutions rolled around for a bit, scratching and growling at one another before the flareon's body glowed red. Sasha's eyes went wide as the flareon's grip tightened on her and she grimaced as the flareon then unleashed an Overheat, sending the smaller pokemon flying.

Landing and rolling to smother the flames, Sasha got to her paws, fur smoking. "Well, that was enjoyable. My turn."

Tapping into her power, she then unleashed a row of blue-glowing rocks that slammed into the recovering flareon, who flipped over in midair, head back, mouth open as a ball of fire formed above its head.

Sasha grinned as her rings turned from blue to purple. Flareon yelped as its own fireball then dropped down on top of it, sending the eeveelution crashing into the ground.

"Gravity just doesn't seem to be your friend," Sasha said as she trotted over to the unconscious pokemon. She checked it carefully before stepping back and looked at Blaine, who threw up his hands.

"Fine, you win," he grumbled, tossing the badge to Mewtwo, who had teleported to Sasha's side. "Thanks for coming."

Mewtwo nodded at him before pinning the badge to Sasha's scarf and tied it back around her neck. Scopping her up in his arms, the duo then teleported away.

-

"You're staring."

Sasha blinked and shook her head before glancing at Mewtwo with a pout.

"Am not," she replied.

Mewtwo rolled his eyes. "Your eyes haven't left that espeon since we got here."

Sasha looked away before her eyes slid back to the espeon curled around Sabrina's neck, not unlike her own position around Mewtwo's.

The eeveelution turned his head and Sasha met his green-eyed stare and felt her ears warm up.

"You do realize you're probably gonna have to fight him, right?" Mewtwo pointed out wryly.

Sasha flicked her ears and tore her gaze away. "It won't be a problem," she replied before glancing at Mewtwo shrewdly. "Meanwhile, I could've sworn you were avoiding Sabrina. Yet here you are following her without a care in the world."

"I wasn't avoiding her. There simply wasn't a time where our schedules coincided," Mewtwo said stiffly.

"...Boy, she's got you whipped good."

"Only if I ask nicely."

-

Sasha pawed at the floor of the gym arena and frowned.

"What happens if you get an opponent who uses earth or rock moves?" she asked, shivering at the cold feel of tile.

The green-eyed Espeon shrugged. "Usually they're defeated before they can tear it up and use it as a weapon. I trust you won't go down so easily?"

"We'll see," Sasha replied lightly.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you're cute," Espeon warned.

Sasha blinked and the Espeon slammed into her, sending her skidding and stumbling backwards.

"Focus, Sasha. I thought you had your head out of the clouds," Mewtwo chided her.

"Oh, put a sock in it," Sasha growled, scrambling to her paws. She dodged Espeon's next quick attack and fired off a salvo of stars at the eeveelution, who deflected them with a light screen.

Espeon's body glowed and Sasha suddenly found herself facing a wall of stars.

"I hate mirror coat," Sasha said, then ducked as the stars whirled around her. Firing off another salvo, she created a smokescreen.

Espeon peered through the cloud warily. Stepping forward, he found himself standing over a limp bundle of fur. Rolling it over, he found himself facing a substitute doll that then emitted a blinding flash of light, followed by an explosion.

"Interesting use of your powers," Mewtwo mused.

From her new vantage point, Sasha grinned before launching herself downwards.

Espeon looked up just in time to meet an iron tail to the face and he collapsed in a heap.

"I got the idea from Vaporeon," Sasha admitted, shifting from her umbreon form.

"Using a substitute in lieu of water," Mewtwo nodded in approval as he stepped forward. "Nicely done."

Sabrina knelt beside her espeon who gave her a rueful grin and gave him a full restore. "Hm…judging by your performance, I suspect Sasha wasn't the only one holding back," the psychic leader teased.

"You call blowing up your opponent holding back?" Espeon asked, rubbing his head. Sabrina glanced at Mewtwo, who wore an innocent look and chuckled.

"In all honesty, yes," she said. Standing up and brushing herself off, she strode toward Mewtwo. "It was nice to see you again. Visit more often, eh?"

"I will try to do so," Mewtwo replied, taking the badge from her. He pinned it to Sasha's scarf and tied it back around the eevee's neck. Sasha settled on his shoulder and Mewtwo inclined his head to Sabrina. "Take care of yourself."

Sabrina watched the duo leave before she turned and walked back into her gym arena. Pausing by one doorway, she spoke.

"Did you enjoy the match?"

Giovanni stepped from the shadows and clasped his hands behind his back.

"It was short and sweet. Most of that eevee's matches follow that trend."

"Are you satisfied?"

Giovanni narrowed his eyes. "I was completely honest when I said I want nothing more to do with those two. At this point, it's simply keeping an eye on them and keeping my people out of their way."

Sabrina crossed her arms and stared at him. "If that's all, I'd like you out of my gym. Conduct whatever business you're here for and leave my city."

"If that is what you wish. I bid you a good day."

-

Sasha peeled herself off the wall she'd been slammed into with a woozy groan before falling to the ground, staggering forward a few steps and collapsing in a heap.

"The challenger is unable to battle. The match goes to Koichi!"

Mewtwo knelt by Sasha's side and gave her a once-over before gingerly picking her up and teleported to the Saffron pokémon center. Turning her over to the care of the nurses, Mewtwo then teleported away.

"Well, that was certainly a painful reminder of the power of the fighting type," Sasha said a few hours later, tucked comfortably into a bed.

"You had just fought four other fighting-type trainers without a break before taking on two simultaneously," Mewtwo replied. "An impressive feat in its own right, especially with a type disadvantage."

"You make it sound like I won," Sasha said bitterly. Glancing at Mewtwo, she saw him toying with something in his hand and she narrowed her eyes.

"Well..." Mewtwo said, lifting up a badge to admire it. "Technically, you had already won the badge after going through the gauntlet. After making sure you were stable, I went back to the gym and was notified you had passed."

Sasha stared at him in disbelief before shaking her head. "Well, either way, that's another badge down. Brock, Misty, Surge, Blaine, Sabrina, Koichi...only two more then it's time for the League. Any other prospective gyms?"

"Well...I was thinking maybe Ice or Dark."

"What about Normal?" Sasha asked.

"If that is what you wish."

Bardothren said:

Okay, I've got way too much to catch up on here. For now, I only have time to read Chapter Three and offer my thoughts on that.

I mainly had questions about 1: why are Mewtwo and Sasha poking around Team Rocket operations when it seemed like they'd rather avoid them, and two, where the heck did Sasha's abilities come from? I thought she straight-up evolved before she explained herself.

On the whole, this chapter feels too sudden. The characters are plopped at a random rocket facility, the facility explodes without warning, and Sasha appears as an Umbreon within the span of a handful of sentences. It's a little much to take in all at once. I would like to see exactly what goes on in the warehouse - something you could show through Mewtwo's perspective considering the Miracle Eye going on.

As for the rest of the chapter, I like the rest of the dialogue, especially the fishing trip they take. Keep up the good work.

also found this weird typo:

Hope that helps!

Click to expand...

Thank you
I mentioned in the first post that anachronistic order may kick in from time to time; chapter 3 is one such example (I settled on doing such a format because ideas come and go and rarely ever seem to be in order. I apologize if it's hard to follow)

Never actually considered using Miracle Eye to let Mewtwo view events from Sasha's perspective - maybe another time

As for her unexplained pseudo-evolution, that gets explained in detail later and why the duo is snooping around where Sasha was held...I don't actually have a reason for that, so you're welcome to speculate

(11.1)

"Mew?"

The small pokémon jerked awake with a snort and flailed. "I'm awake! Was just resting my eyes!"

Arceus rolled its eyes and thumped a stack of papers in front of the mirage pokémon.

"I need you to deliver these to Regigigas."

"Which one?"

"All of them."

Mew let out a groan. "Fine. Out of curiosity, what am I delivering?"

"The next set of program instructions for the Regi trios they're in charge of."

"You do realize that by the time they finish the updates, odds are they'll be woefully out of date, right?" Mew asked sardonically.

"I'm well aware. But it's better than having them be centuries out of date. Much like the Rota Regis. Lucario chewed me out for that one something fierce."

Mew stared at the stack of papers three times its height and sighed. "Right, I'll get right on that then."

(11.2)

Mewtwo and Sasha were curled up together on the couch, the clone idly stroking over the eevee's fur as he read through a book.

Eventually, Mewtwo closed the book with a snap, causing the eevee to flick her ears and look at him curiously.

"Sasha, what's your limit when you're transformed?"

She blinked thoughtfully and glanced over at the dresser where her collar lay.

"You mean like endurance and how long I can spam moves before collapsing?" Sasha asked. Mewtwo nodded as he stroked over her scruff lightly.

"When I was battling Misty, using Overheat underwater drained me considerably. Then recently I've been able to use heavy-hitting moves like rock slide and stone edge in quick succession without collapsing."

"Have you tried using legendary moves? Aeroblast, Sacred Fire, Roar of Time and Judgment?"

Sasha grimaced then blushed. "Not…really. I don't really feel like abusing Metronome to win my battles, especially not with what are basically one-hit knockout moves when used on regular pokémon."

Mewtwo chuckled and held out his hand. A shimmering blade of purple psychic energy formed around his hand like a sword. With a twist of his wrist, it snapped into a glowing blue sword.

"I can use and manipulate both psychic and aura energy, and thus took the time to learn things like Sacred Sword and based one of my own self-taught moves – Psystrike – off of it. Other psychics can do something similar, of course, but they lack the hitting power of mine."

He turned to look at her closely and she met his gaze evenly.

"What, you think I should learn to use aura or something?" Sasha asked.

Mewtwo slowly shook his head. "That would take months of practice and focus, so for the League, it would be impractical. Metronome should – in theory – allow you to use the move regardless, but without the training, it wouldn't hit nearly as hard as it would if you were a lucario or one of the unovan musketeers."

Mewtwo's voice then turned thoughtful.

"However, I have noticed something…strange about your transformation. When you change, you don't just become an umbreon; your overall strength, endurance, stamina and speed increase dramatically. You were able to knock out a vaporeon with a fire move while submerged, for one."

"So I get a power boost when transforming. Big whoop, I'm hardly the first pokémon able to do such a thing," Sasha replied dryly.

Mewtwo sighed and gave her a tap on the nose. "You'll need to master every aspect of your alternate form if you ever want to stand a chance in the League. You're going to be facing several strong pokémon raised by trainers who've bred them for that express purpose. I know you're mostly doing this to amuse yourself and that you don't care if you lose, but I doubt you want to make it too easy for them, correct?"

"I get what you're trying to say and I'll take it into consideration."

Mewtwo knew that was as good as he was going to get from the stubborn eevee.

(11.3)

Sasha woke up feeling thick-headed, as if she'd been eating too many special berries.

Blinking to focus her vision, she took a step forward-

-and slammed into a hard surface.

Recoiling in surprise, she touched her bruised nose and shook her head hard.

"Ah, you're awake."

Sasha froze, ears twitching. She didn't recognize that voice - it certainly wasn't Mewtwo, as it was spoken aloud.

"Splendid, I had thought for a moment I'd gotten the formula wrong or given you too big a dose, but now that you've recovered, we can begin."

Sasha closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. Her vision sharpened and everything came into focus.

A chill crept down her spine as she gazed out of the translucent panel in front of her. A quick glance around filled in the rest of the details.

She appeared to be in some kind of lab; monitors and various equipment she couldn't identify lined the walls. She saw visual feeds of various scenes and the content of them made her queasy.

"Welcome to Fleur-de-lis Labs, the leading expert in pokémon breeding. I will be your host for the foreseeable future. You may call me Lysandre." A tall man stepped out of the shadows. A wild mane of ginger hair framed a face Sasha would've called charming had it not been for the eyes.

She'd seen eyes like that before and she took a step back.

"So you recognize me, or have been around others like me," the man said. "I will admit, when Giovanni sent me your data, I was skeptical, but then I remembered one Ash Ketchum and his strange greninja."

"Never heard of him," Sasha said warily, which got a chuckle from the suited figure.

"Don't bother pleading ignorance. Your antics in the League have gotten the attention of some powerful people. You're lucky I got to you first."

"Why? What do you need me for?"

Lysandre gazed at her with an expression that brought back unpleasant memories for the eevee.

"I plan on making the world a beautiful place, purged of impurity. Usually, your kind would be eliminated due to your unstable genetics, but you're far too useful to destroy. Instead, you will become the mother of a new breed of pokémon. The eevee are well-known for their adaptive ability and it seems like Arceus took that aspect of you and removed the limiters."

"Limiter?" Sasha asked blankly. Lysandre sighed.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. All I need from you is your cooperation."

"Sasha, down."

Sasha flattened herself at the sound of the familiar voice and the wall behind her exploded inwards.

Shaking herself, Sasha leaped backwards out of her container and briefly rubbed against Mewtwo's legs before settling on his shoulder.

"So, what've you gotten yourself into this time?" Mewtwo asked, flexing his digits.

"That guy," Sasha replied, nodding at a dumbfounded Lysandre, "Kidnapped me and planned on making me the mother of a new breed of pokémon. Something about a beautiful world too."

"Lysandre," Mewtwo said politely. "Last I heard of you was when you were annihilated by Zygarde."

"When Cyrus tampered with time, the effects were felt both in the past and in the future," Lysandre said smoothly. "Armed with the memories of that timeline, I was victorious in my battle with Ash and Alain. I made their power my power, but I once again lost it due to someone restoring time!"

He leveled a glare at the duo. "All of my hard work and effort, taken from me without my consent. How dare pokémon interfere with the lives of others without consequence! What makes them so special?"

"Ages ago, man and pokémon were indistinguishable from one another. They're not interfering with your life so much as guiding you towards something better. All this-" Mewtwo said, gesturing to the machines, "-has potential to be used for the betterment of mankind. Why are you using it for your own ambition?"

"Cyrus was on to something when he planned for a world without spirit. Ghetsis would've made a world of peace by removing pokémon from humans and I would've made it all beautiful. But every time we come close, you and others like you take it all away!"

Lysandre was trembling with rage, hair bristling as he pointed at them.

"What gives you that right?!"

"Because...people like you don't understand the relationships between humans and pokémon. Yes, it's not perfect, but we care for and support one another and your world wouldn't have that. It'd be incredibly lonely," Sasha said softly.

Lysandre whipped his other arm up, a device on his wrist expanding to wrap around his hand, which he pointed at them.

"Shut up!"

There was a flash of light and Sasha flinched.

"Relax, Sasha," Mewtwo replied, stroking her fur. "It's over."

Sasha opened her eyes and looked around. "Wha-?"

They were standing in a grandiose hall lined with pillars. Sasha glanced around and was startled to see that the floor appeared to be translucent. Below, a vast mountain range dominated the landscape.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I happened."

Arceus faded into view and dipped its head. "My apologies, Sasha. I only just got word of your predicament."

"It's...uh...fine?" Sasha replied shakily. "So, Lysandre?"

"Gone. An event in the past erased him from your present."

"So the restoration process is proceeding smoothly?" Mewtwo asked.

Sasha perked up. "I heard about that. But...in restoring time and space, you...some events never happen? But I've still got the memories."

Arceus shrugged. "We're not entirely sure why that happens. It's popped up before - Mewtwo also has memories of events that never happened. So do quite a few gym leaders, champions and other humans and pokémon. One thing they all have in common is that they were there when Cyrus destroyed time and space."

Sasha frowned. "But...I don't. I've only heard about that. So..."

"You were somehow involved in that event," Arceus replied. "However, we've not been able to get the details of exactly what happened that day and I wouldn't be able to get the information about that day from the memories of those involved because of how it was resolved."

"When everyone involved got the memories of their alternate selves," Sasha said in realization. "The details would become mixed up and unreliable."

Arceus nodded.

Silence reigned before Sasha asked, "What happens now?"

"Nothing. You're free to go back to your life. If anything about you comes up, I'll contact you, alright?"

Sasha glanced at Mewtwo who gave her ears a rub and she relaxed.

"Thank you, Lord Arceus. I hope the restoration continues smoothly."

With a flash of light, the duo vanished.

(11.4)

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mewtwo asked as he stretched his limbs.

Sasha flicked her tail and pawed at the ground.

"Of course. We've got a few weeks before the League and I'd like to get some training in. Not to mention if I can hold my own against you, I should be able to face six pokémon in a row no problem."

Mewtwo raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're not interested in beating me?"

Sasha grinned and shook her head. "I am well aware you outclass me in every way imaginable. I'll just have to be a little more creative to survive against you."

Mewtwo nodded. "Whenever you are ready then."

Sasha was still for a moment, then she darted forward. Mewtwo watched her approach carefully, fingers twitching in anticipation as she neared. When she was a few yards away, Mewtwo extended his hand, telekinesis reaching for the eevee, but she skidded to a halt, throwing sand in the air to obscure the clone's vision.

"Clever little vixen. But..."

A wave of his hand cleared the dust and he wasn't surprised to see she'd vanished.

"Hm..."

He reached out with his power and didn't feel the eevee around or below him, so that left...

Looking up, Mewtwo saw her dropping towards him. Grinning, Mewtwo again reached out with his telekinesis to grab her.

With a flash of light, she changed forms, slipping through the psychic field and collided with his face.

Sasha landed on her paws and stumbled, holding her forehead. "Ow...your head is harder than it looks," she hissed, eyes watering.

Mewtwo touched his own head and winced. "Not gonna lie, I didn't expect that. Nice usage of the fact Dark is immune to Psychic. Unfortunately, most psychic-types have access to things like Focus Blast, so even if you evade one type, they can still hit you with another counter."

Sasha's body glowed briefly as she called on her power to heal herself. "Thanks for the lesson," she said, reverting back to her eevee form.

Mewtwo chuckled and scooped her up, rubbing her belly. "Don't worry, I've got plenty more to teach you before you go up against the best of the best."

Sasha nuzzled his hand and purred warmly, tail wagging happily.

(11.5)

Arceus' eyes darted over the newly restored timeline and he frowned.

"So Team Flare was much less ambitious this time around and merely launched the ancient superweapon from a base in Geosenge Town rather than level most of Lumiose City with a giant evil rock."

"At least it's stable," Dialga replied while Celebi napped on its back.

"I'm not disappointed in you," Arceus said.

Mew frowned and crossed its arms. "And Ash is once again not involved in the events at all. Red and Gold defeated Team Rocket. Diamond, Platinum and Pearl defeated Team Galactic, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald defeated Teams Magma and Aqua...now we've got five different trainers who took down Team Flare? I dread to think what Ash will lose when we untangle Unova."

"Not much, I suspect," Palkia said.

Giratina snorted into its berry juice, the sound waking Celebi, who flailed around a bit before taking stock of its surroundings.

Sniffing the air, the time traveler narrowed its eyes. "Giratina, why do I smell Niniku berries?"

Arceus chuckled as the tiny legendary chased the larger one around angrily.

"Anyway, I suppose this explains why Ash no longer has the bond phenomenon with greninja, since it wasn't crucial to saving the planet. Seems like Cyrus' goal truly was to undo all of Ash's hard work."

"And now we're stuck shoring up our reality with bits and pieces from other timelines," Mew murmured. "Guess we should count ourselves lucky Cyrus was kind enough to attempt to wipe out all of existence. If he'd focused his efforts just to this dimension..."

Arceus nodded. "I'd have to start over. Which...I guess wouldn't be too bad, since I'd be able to streamline the process a bit."

Arceus took note of Mew's horrified expression and rolled its eyes.

"Joking, of course."

Mew shook its head. "You really need to work on that."

"I'll keep that in mind. Now if you need me, I shall go find Ash and tell him about this latest development."

"What about Mewtwo?" the mirage pokémon asked.

"I'd rather not trouble him. He's got his own work cut out for him and I don't want to distract him."

"Very well."

(12.1)

Mew looked around the ruined architecture curiously.

"Wow, this brings back memories…"

Arceus glanced up from where it was piecing fragments of Unova together.

"Quite so. I always liked the Sinjoh Ruins. Sure, it's rather cold and drafty, and kinda in a state of disrepair, but it still has that…rustic charm."

Mew rolled its eyes and sat down on a piece of rubble.

"I hoped you remembered to leave a note at the Hall of Origin telling the others where you went."

Arceus abruptly stood up and vanished.

A few minutes later, it popped back and glared at the Mew.

"Not. A. Word."

-
(12.2)

"Hm..."

Sasha drowsily opened an eye to stare at Mewtwo, who was staring at a sight beyond the eevee's field of view.

"What is it?" she asked, stretching as the masseuse worked his magic on her sore muscles.

"I don't think I've ever seen a hydreigon get a belly rub," Mewtwo replied, to which Sasha blinked before craning her head around to stare at where he was looking.

A hydreigon was, in fact, stretched out on its back, head lolling back in bliss as a machamp rubbed over its belly and limbs.

A trainer wearing a white shirt, brown pants and black hat noticed their stares and came over.

"Hello. I see you've met my hydreigon. I suspect you have questions?"

Sasha glanced at him before doing a double-take.

"N?"

The man stared at her curiously before carefully examining her.

"I don't believe we've met...?"

"She's got memories of the Cyrus incident a decade ago," Mewtwo replied. "We're curious as to why she remembers bits and pieces of it, despite not being there."

N scratched his cheek and frowned, brow furrowing as he adopted a thoughtful expression. He then shrugged.

"I certainly don't remember an eevee. Granted, my memories aren't exactly sorted and there was a lot going on, so..."

"It's nothing important," Sasha said, hissing as her masseuse found a tense clump of muscles. "Don't worry about it."

N toyed with his necklace for a moment. "I see. I'm sorry for bothering you."

Mewtwo shot Sasha a look and she flattened her ears. "Sorry, that came out wrong," she admitted.

N chuckled and waved a hand dismissively as the machamp stepped back from the content hydreigon. "It's not a problem. I always enjoy meeting new faces. And old ones," he added, giving Mewtwo a nod, which the clone returned.

The man stroked over the hydreigon's head before casting a glance at Sasha. "I've been watching your matches over the past few months. You're all set to take on the League?"

Sasha nodded.

"Then I wish you the best of luck."

The duo watched the man and dragon leave before getting up themselves.

"What memories do you have of N?" Mewtwo asked curiously.

Sasha closed her eyes as Mewtwo scooped her into his arms. "I...remember meeting him in a forest, yet at the same time, that's also when I was given a Blessing from Arceus."

"So your memories are also fragmented, taking various cues from several different versions of yourself," Mewtwo reasoned.

"No," Sasha said firmly, much to Mewtwo's surprise. "You mentioned once how you said your mind remembered things, but your body didn't remember the sensations, right?"

Mewtwo nodded slowly and Sasha continued.

"I do remember the sensations and feelings of N caring for me after I was attacked by..." Sasha shivered and rubbed a paw over her scruff slowly. "…in that case, it was...a pack of wild houndour, mightyena and a houndoom, rather than a singular houndoom owned by Archer."

Mewtwo stroked her ears soothingly and she sighed, nuzzling his paw lightly.

"Strange. At this point, I couldn't begin to offer a theory or explanation. I'm sorry," Mewtwo said. Sasha chuckled softly.

"It's fine, Mewtwo. Really. What's done is done and I'd much rather focus on the here and now, rather than puzzling out what happened in the past. If something else comes up in regards to it, well...then we can worry about it, alright?"

"If that is what you wish."

-
(12.3)

"And with that, I'm all caught up."

Mewtwo tossed the comic into the corner and stretched his arms above his head.

"Caught up with what?" Sasha asked with a yawn.

"Twelve years and a few months worth of comics, give or take a week."

The eevee stared at him, then at the small mountain of books.

"So that's about 150-something issues, right?" Sasha mused, crunching some numbers in her head.

"With an additional one hundred issues or so of supplemental material covering different side stories," Mewtwo replied.

"You have too much free time," the eevee said with a grin. Mewtwo shrugged.

"That's what happens when you become a recluse."

"Nerd."

"I'll take that as a compliment, freeloader."

-
(12.4)

"So, tell me about Ash's pokémon," Sasha said.

Mewtwo glanced up from his book on botany with an arched brow. "Hoping to get a leg up on the competition?"

"Seems only fair. I know I'm nowhere near his league, but I'd still like to know what they're capable of."

Mewtwo closed his book and tapped his fingers on the cover absently.

"Well, a decade ago, I know his team was capable of tackling legendary pokémon without problem. I know his pikachu managed to shock primal groudon and Ash regularly turns a supposed disadvantage into an advantage, usually in the heat of a battle to boot," Mewtwo said thoughtfully. "After the Cyrus fiasco...I'm not really sure. One downside to time fracturing and being restored is that a lot of development and power was lost, so his pokémon are nowhere near their old level of power."

He shrugged. "It's been a decade since then and Ash loves traveling. Usually winds up embroiled in one conflict or another, so maybe he's got that power back."

Sasha rolled her eyes. "So what you're saying is that I'm screwed."

"Don't sell yourself short," Mewtwo chided her. "Even if he brings his best team, there's always a chance of victory. Exploit their weaknesses, use your strengths, abuse what you've been given."

The eevee rested her chin on her paws and flicked her tail. "So just keep doing what I've been doing?"

"She can be taught. There's hope yet."

Sasha swiped at him and the clone caught her paw with his own and pulled her close, kissing her nose, causing the eevee to squeak.

Settling against him, Sasha stuck her tongue out.

"Have you ever participated in a League?" she asked.

Mewtwo shook his head. "No. Never been one for crowds and bragging rights."

Sasha nuzzled him. "It'd be good practice and you'd meet new people and make friends."

"I do that just fine by being your chaperone and chauffeur," Mewtwo replied dryly.

Sasha conceded the point.

-
(12.5)

Deep inside the Sinjoh Ruins, Arceus opened its eyes and frowned.

"I sense a disturbance in the..."

Its frown deepened as it got to its feet.

"What...is that? It...feels like a pokemon but it's so...warped."

Going over to the various time bubbles littering the Mystri Stage, Arceus began peering through them, searching for the anomaly.

"Did we...create this by merging the worlds? Or was this pre-destined?"

"My lord?" Mew asked from its perch on a pile of rubble.

"Hm?" Arceus said absently.

"What's going on?

"Something...ah. Ah," Arceus said triumphantly.

"'Ah'? What do you mean by 'ah'?" Mew asked, floating over.

"There's something in the Alolan timestream that's causing issues."

"Should I get started on restoring it?" Mew asked, waving a hand at Celebi who came over.

"...Yes. Please. There's...you don't feel anything?" Arceus mused. "Anything...wrong? I'm getting chills down my spine, as if there's something there that's me...yet...not."

Mew's lips thinned as it pressed them together. "I...think so? I felt something when Mewtwo was created, as if someone was always watching me. Is that what you're feeling?"

Arceus paced in agitation and sighed heavily. "I don't like this. We've made so much progress, yet it feels like Alola may make or break everything we've done. If that happens..."

"We'll deal with it when the time comes, alright?" Mew said soothingly.

Arceus plucked at the Alolan time stream carefully, brow furrowed in concentration.

"Celebi, have you noticed anything odd about this?" it asked the smaller legendary.

"If you're talking about the lack of anything possibly related to Ash Ketchum or any world-ending threat that seems to be inherent to untangling Cyrus' mess...yes, I have noticed that," the time traveler replied.

Arceus blinked as realization dawned.

"This is...not the past, but the future."

Celebi paused and crossed its arms. "So...we can now confirm Dialga's theory."

Arceus nodded grimly. "I need you to go tell him immediately."

Celebi saluted and vanished.

The Creator then turned back to the unfolding timeline, eyes narrowed.

"The deeper I probe, the more questions I have. What are you hiding, Alola?"

Arceus let out a soft hissing sound and abruptly vanished, leaving behind a thoroughly confused Mew.

"Well, time to get to work," the mirage pokemon said with a sigh, turning towards the fragments of Alola.

13.1

Mewtwo and Sasha gazed over the edge of the cliff at the lucario struggling to climb it.

"Hello," Mewtwo called, waving. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

The lucario glared up at them as it searched for a foothold. "I don't mean to be rude," he said curtly, "But this isn't as easy as it looks. I'd appreciate it if you didn't distract me."

"I don't suppose you could speed this up?" Sasha asked Mewtwo. "Use psychic or something to help him?"

"No!" the lucario said. "I do not want or need your help."

"He is trying to kill us, you realize," Mewtwo said dryly.

"And we're not taking him out while he's helpless on the side of a cliff because...?" Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because that's not very sporting," Mewtwo said, sitting down, sending a cascade of rocks showering down on the lucario, who cursed up a storm.

"You did that on purpose," Sasha chided the clone, who wore a look of hurt innocence.

A few minutes later, the lucario pulled itself up and rolled onto his back with a wheeze.

"Why do you pursue us so doggedly?" Sasha asked.

"Because I seek the one who killed my father," the lucario replied.

"Oh goody, one of those pokemon," Mewtwo said with a sigh. Sasha tilted her head curiously.

"Meaning?" she prompted.

"Well, if there's anything I've picked up over the years, it's that some people will gladly manipulate pokemon into doing their jobs for them by slaughtering their loved ones and then blaming the crime on someone they want eliminated. In this case, apparently I'm a murderer," Mewtwo replied.

"You make it sound like you're not the one who killed my father," the lucario said, getting to his feet. A blue sword snapped to life from his hand and he brandished it at the clone. "However, I was told the identity of the murderer and you match the description perfectly!"

"Meanwhile, there's plenty of pokemon who are capable of shapeshifting or casting illusions," Mewtwo countered, idly pushing the blade out of his face. The lucario stared at the clone's hands with a frown before the sword vanished in a flash of light.

"You're not the killer," the aura pokemon stated.

"Good, that saves me from having to tell you my alibi," Mewtwo replied. "What tipped you off?"

"The killer had an extra digit on his hand."

Mewtwo picked Sasha up and she settled around his neck with a purr. "I'd like to help you, but your problems are not my problems and I'm already behind schedule as it is. I don't suppose you've heard of a man named Wes?"

"Is that what brings you to Orre?" the lucario asked, crossing his arms. "I've heard rumors he's out in the desert training. Other than that..."

"That's a great help. Thank you," Sasha replied. Mewtwo offered the lucario a respectful nod.

"Do you have a name?" Mewtwo asked.

"The baseborn are not given that privilege."

"Amarulence, then," Mewtwo said.

The lucario tilted his head. "What does that mean?"

"Bitterness, spite. Despite your lowborn status, you struck out and made a name for yourself. Admittedly, in a manner most of your kind would find deplorable, but a name nonetheless. Perhaps your name will change once you grow more as a pokemon," Mewtwo said, turning. "Best of luck to you, Amaru."

Amaru gazed at his hands, clenching them a few times before nodding curtly. "Once I have made a new name for myself, I will find you and tell you. Thank you, Mewtwo, for giving me this gift."

Mewtwo lifted a hand in farewell and teleported.

-

13.2

Arceus stretched its legs and got up.

"I am going for a walk," it said, trotting past Celebi, Giratina, Rayquaza and Reshiram, who were carefully untangling the various Unova time streams.

Receiving differing grunts of acknowledgement, the Alpha pokemon vanished.

Arceus popped back into being high above a route in Kanto. Orienting itself, the Original One then started looking around, muttering to itself.

"Knew he was around here somewhere...hm..."

It whirled as an explosion sent a geyser of rubble skyward and it stared down at the familiar figure of Ash Ketchum.

Setting down a safe distance away, Arceus settled in to watch. It wasn't long before Pikachu tugged on Ash's sleeve and pointed at their observer.

"Hey, Arceus, what brings you here?" Ash asked, waving for his pokemon to take a break.

"Curiosity, mostly. How goes your journey?"

"Quite well. Already have my eight badges for the League. Definitely looking forward to it. I hear Sasha's only got one more badge to get?"

Arceus blinked in surprise. "Oh? Eight already? Impressive. Sasha is working on her last as we speak. I was worried that the various restorations would have hampered your growth as a trainer, but it seems that's not the case?"

"I don't really care about that. As long as they remember everything we've been through together, that's enough for me," Ash replied. "That being said, I've not been idle. I met Red a few weeks ago and we battled to a draw. He's really strong. Gary and Blue too. Or was it Green? It gets rather confusing when they start talking about the events they've been through."

Arceus sighed and shook its head. "Merging universes was an extremely risky strategy, but it was the only way we stood a chance of preventing Cyrus from erasing everything."

"Well, you and your children have done a splendid job."

"I'm sorry we couldn't restore events to the way they were originally. Greninja no longer has its Battle Bond ability due to how events have changed."

Ash waved a hand. "Even without that, he's an extremely gifted pokemon. Really hit it off with Sceptile and Infernape, actually."

"So they'll be on your League team?"

Ash flexed his fingers and stretched his limbs. "I'm still deciding. I've got some forty pokemon all eager to give the League a try and it's awfully hectic at Oak's ranch."

"Seems quite hectic here too," Arceus remarked, taking in the blasted and scorched landscape. Ash winced.

"We...may have gotten a little carried away..." he admitted.

"Not a problem. I'll have Celebi remind me to restore this once you're done with it. Or I'll send Shaymin, Suicune and Virizion. It's quite hectic for us too."

Ash grinned. "Thank you for all your hard work."

Arceus dipped its head. "I shall leave you to your training then."

"Ready to get back to training, Piakchu?" Ash asked, turning to the mouse.

"I'm trying to come up with a name for that electric move I just did. Gigavolt seems...too bland," the electric-type mused.

"Why not Catastropika?" Pidgeot suggested.

"Now that's just being silly."

-

13.3

Mewtwo appeared in the middle of Giovanni's study, arms crossed as he stared at the man sitting at his desk.

"Mewtwo, you're late," the crime boss said, glancing at his pocket watch. It cracked, then shattered in his hand and he dropped the pieces without a word. "Been a while since I've seen you angry. What's got you bothered this time?"

"You promised to leave Sasha and I alone, yet you sent the data on the two of us to others. Why?"

"Answered your own question. I promised not to target you. Not my fault if my servers get hacked and the contents stolen by outside parties," Giovanni replied, stroking over his persian.

Mewtwo snorted. "Spucatum tauri."

"Nulla tenaci invia est via, Mewtwo. You of all pokémon should understand that," Giovanni replied. "Besides, even with his knowledge, Lysandre wasn't able to use Sasha to complete his goal of a beautiful world."

"So you admit you know what happened to your data," Mewtwo said. "Unfortunately, your story doesn't add up with what Sasha told me and I definitely trust her word over yours. She said Lysandre was sent the data."

Giovanni waved a hand. "In the end, it all worked out, thanks to your connections. I've had similar victories and setbacks with my own organization. I know how it works. Now, unless you have something else to talk about, I am a busy man-"

"Shut up."

Mewtwo's tone cut through Giovanni like a knife and the Rocket Boss leaned back, amused.

"If that is what you wish," he replied.

Mewtwo's eye twitched and he vanished.

Shaking his head, Giovanni rested his hand on the persian's head. "You'd think after a decade, he'd have lightened up. Even with his little morality pet, he's still prickly as ever."

With an amused chuckle, he returned to his work.

-

13.4

Mewtwo stared at the necklace in his hands, mind wandering as he sat alone in his room.

That is, until a weight settled onto the bed beside him.

"Who was she?"

Mewtwo rubbed over the locket silently before speaking.

"Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame."

Sasha tilted her head. "What's that?"

"A song between a lover and his beloved. Something from a different universe that haunts me."

Sasha gazed at him before nuzzling his paw. Mewtwo cupped her cheek and stroked her face gently.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, little one."

Sasha frowned and reluctantly nodded.

-

13.5

"Unhand me!"

Mewtwo stared at the squirming sack warily before opening the top of it and used his telekinesis to pull a thoroughly peeved eevee out of it.

"I've heard stories about you. Going around taking whatever you want without a care in the world. You're Mewtwo, aren't you?"

"The one and the same," the cat replied with a flourish.

"Go to hell."

Mewtwo let out a dramatic gasp and clutched at his chest. "Such venom, Princess Sasha! Why do you attack me so?"

"Because you killed the one I loved!"

"Have I? I've killed many. The faces tend to blur after a while. Who was this lover of yours then? Some snooty noble house cat, I bet? Meowth or Persian? Skitty. Ooh, Delcatty, you look like a Delcatty lover."

Sasha glared at him. "I...never actually saw his face. Only ever heard his voice. We used to meet at night, me in my tower, him below..."

She sighed wistfully. "Then one day, I received word that Mewtwo had struck, wiping out several nearby villages and my love stopped visiting. And since you never take prisoners, I assumed my love was dead and hated you ever since."

"Yeah, and this is why I usually kill people, because they don't shut up."

"You dare to mock my pain?" Sasha growled.

"Life is pain, you highness," Mewtwo replied dryly. "Anyone who says otherwise is probably trying to sell you something."

Sasha bristled and looked away. "Put me down."

"If that is what you wish,"

Sasha whipped her head around, eyes wide. "You...you dare?! Mocking my deceased love like that? Just...die!"

Tangling herself around his ankles, Sasha watched with grim satisfaction as Mewtwo tumbled down the hill. She pricked her ears as his voice carried up to her.

"If...that...is...what...you...wish!"

"...Oh dear. This...he can't be...what have I done?"

Without a second thought, she threw herself after him.

...

Mewtwo glanced up from the book, eyebrows raised. "Really? You'd throw yourself off a cliff for me? I'm touched,"

"Well, you're the one who kidnapped me in the first place without telling me who you were!" Sasha protested.

Mewtwo rubbed her ears with an amused smirk. "Well, at least our meeting wasn't as hectic as theirs, hm?"

"Shut up and keep reading."

-
~OMAKE~

(Written by Kishou the Badger)

The best part about being a Psychic type was the power to teleport; useless in fighting, but good to get out of a fight. Or in a Legendary's case, go far away for a well-deserved break, even for a little while.

"So this is Alola." Mewtwo noted, telepathically raising a pile of sand up to eye level. "It feels a lot more... tropical, than Hoenn."

"Are you sure it's okay to travel out here at night?"

"Any time is technically dangerous depending on a Pokemon's eternal clock. Strolling through the dark is no more dangerous than the day; just ask Ash and Team Rocket."

Sasha rolled her eyes. "Sure, an all powerful Psychic like yourself would say that. But what about the ROUTs?"

"The what?"

"Raticates Of Unusual Typings. I heard they became Dark types after an invasion of Yungoos."

Mewtwo scoffed. "Like those even exist."

"CAAAAATE!" was the only warning they heard before a bulky black blob of a shadow tackled the Legendary down to the ground and taking a huge bite at his tube-like second neck.

The Raticate lost of course. Reduced to a charred lump no less by an overcharged Aura Sphere. But Sasha laughed at how caught off guard he was, and wouldn't let him hear the end of how "girly" he sounded screaming.

"What am I looking at here?" Sasha murmured to Mewtwo as the two stood on one side of a gym battlefield.

The duo had scoured the databases to find gym locations and had marked down the rest Sasha would challenge to meet the badge requirement and the two found themselves challenging a Normal-type Gym somewhere between Pewter and Cerulean.

Upon arrival, Sasha wondered if she could take back her statement of wishing to challenge it.

The leader was a man calling himself Archmage Myrddin, wearing a wizard robe and hat, both in horrible garish clashing colors.

Mewtwo had never seen such designs and wondered how anyone could somehow manage to wear plaid, stripes, polka-dots and not go insane.

The Leader noticed their stares and rolled his eyes. "My pokemon decided to switch my wardrobe around. So I just rolled with it."

"No turning back now, little one," Mewtwo replied.

Sasha nodded and the leader sent out a cinccino who thankfully wasn't colored like her trainer.

Despite the gym's out-of-the-way location, Sasha was surprised to see a fair number of people in the stands.

Tuning them out, Sasha focused on her opponent.

The scarf pokémon curtsied to the eevee. "Good luck," it said cheerfully.

As the referee called for the match to begin, Sasha was already leaping backwards, swinging her tail in an arc to release a storm of star-shaped projectiles. The cinccino darted forward, forelimbs a blur as it slapped the stars aside.

"Fast, and judging from the speed of those strikes, it has Skill Link as its Ability," Mewtwo said, idly catching a stray Swift star. "Most pokémon get tired after two or three."

"So it relies on close combat to overwhelm its opponent with multiple weak strikes once they're forced into range. Wonderful," Sasha grumbled, using Quick Attack to dodge around the Unovan 'mon.

Unfortunately, it was faster and knocked her paws out from under her before swinging its tail around in a stinging smack. Instead of pressing the advantage, the cinccino simply took a few steps from the stunned eevee and allowed her to get back up.

"I trust you won't try that again?" it asked sweetly. Sasha shook herself and grimaced.

The eevee then launched herself at the startled pokémon and divided into a swarm of silvery-white blurs. Cinccino narrowed its eyes and watched them carefully.

A swarm of stars pelted it form behind and as it whirled to deflect the rest, more came from the direction it just turned from. Soon, it was being peppered from all sides by a storm of stars.

Mewtwo stroked his chin thoughtfully, eyes scanning the horde of eevee. It was slight, but he could see the real Sasha dart between the clones. "Make it quick, Sasha, you can't keep this up for long."

Abruptly, the extra eevee vanished and Sasha, in her umbreon form, appeared above the cinccino before twirling to deliver an iron tail attack.

Cinccino whipped its long fur around to catch the tail, then whipped its own tail to strike at Sasha's neck.

Sasha's eyes went wide as her collar was knocked off and she tore her tail free from her opponent's grasp before tapping into Metronome.

Sasha's eyes glowed briefly before a rectangular box expanded from her body, conforming to the battlefield.

Archmage Myrddin narrowed his eyes. "Trick Room. Oh dear...that's not good."

Sasha landed on the floor and stumbled as her body reverted to its base form. She caught herself and gazed around the odd room curiously before turning back to the cinccino.

The pokémon was moving towards her sluggishly and Sasha easily dodged its swipes.

"Uh...Mewtwo, what's going on?"

"Trick Room. Since you're slower than cinccino, you get to move faster for a while."

Sasha grinned. "Neat!"

She watched as the cinccino turned from her and made its way towards the wall, probably hoping to break it to get back the advantage of speed.

"Oh no you don't," Sasha muttered, knocking it away with an iron tail. She almost felt bad for hitting the poor thing, but such was the nature of pokémon battles.

It was over in a matter of minutes.

The walls faded and Sasha helped the woozy cinccino to its feet as Myrddin chuckled.

"Nice job taking advantage of a situation you weren't completely familiar with," he said. Mewtwo had retrieved Sasha's collar and repaired it before putting it and the scarf back around Sasha's neck.

"Thanks for the battle. It was a lot of fun," Sasha replied, wagging her tail.

"Good luck in the League," Myrddin replied.

Turning away from the leader with a nod, Mewtwo and Sasha departed.

-

"What's your experience with the Dark type?" Sasha asked as she and Mewtwo strolled into the newly re-opened Viridian Gym.

"Some good, some bad. They tend to be sneaky and use underhanded tactics to win battles. In some cultures, they're known as the Evil type." Mewtwo replied, gazing around the entryway. "Quieter than I was expecting."

"I'm quite content with not having screaming crowds watching me make an idiot of myself while millions more watch it on television. Although at the League, I'm gonna have to get used to that, aren't I?" Sasha said with a flick of her tail.

"That is usually the case, yes. On the bright side, you're hardly the first pokémon to have stage fright in the Leagues."

They entered the gym arena and were greeted by a rather barren field.

On the far side stood a solitary figure who simply gave them a nod before flashing a gym badge and tossing out a pokéball, revealing an umbreon.

"Oh good, the silent type," Mewtwo said. "And a bit of a mirror match to boot."

"I'm a neon-white umbreon with blue rings. How is that a mirror match?" Sasha asked.

"Same species. Kinda. Shut up. Go battle."

Sasha stuck her tongue out at him and leaped down to take her place on the field.

The umbreon greeted Sasha politely before inclining her head.

"You're quite popular in some gossip circles. I look forward to seeing what you can do personally."

"Thanks?" Sasha asked before dodging under a swift Sucker Punch. She retaliated with a Shadow Claw of her own that the umbreon caught in her mouth and shattered with a bite.

Disengaging, Sasha leaped backwards under a cover of swift stars that had the umbreon dancing backwards to avoid. She watched the umbreon track her and then used Double Team to create a horde of copies.

The moonlight pokémon stood poised before settling back into an idle position, clearly not willing to expend undue energy going after her.

Sasha doubted she'd get anywhere with her base form and ascended, causing her doppelgangers to vanish. The opposing umbreon tensed before Sasha fired off a shadow ball, which was deflected with a swift light screen.

"Go figure," Sasha griped, bringing down a brick break that cratered the umbreon.

She helped the umbreon to its paws. "Sorry about that."

The umbreon shook her head sheepishly. "As an umbreon, I should've guessed you'd have a fighting type move to deal with fighting the same type. Brick break was a little unusual though. I was expecting rock smash or something lighter."

"The perks of being able to control the randomness of Metronome with eviolite," Sasha replied, using heal pulse to restore the pokémon. The umbreon glanced at her own trainer, who had already given Mewtwo the badge and was walking away. She gave Sasha a polite bow and trotted off.

Mewtwo pinned the badge to Sasha's scarf and tied it around her neck.

"Congratulations on your last badge," Mewtwo said. Sasha stroked the scarf lightly and smiled.

"I...was expecting something a little more challenging," she said. "But...sometimes it's just easier to get it over with and not drag the fight out any longer than necessary. Why win by outlasting your opponent or coming up with stupidly complex and flashy moves? That just seems like a waste of everyone's time."

"Paying an arm and a leg to sit in a cramped seat watching pokémon fight for ten seconds seems like an insult to the random League-goer," Mewtwo replied, scooping her up.

"Why not just watch it online?"

Mewtwo's lips twitched in amusement. "Because some people enjoy wasting money. It's how sports make a living."

"If you say so. Did you happen to get the leader's name?" Sasha asked.

"Not a clue."

"Is being weird some kind of prerequisite for becoming a gym leader?"

"It helps stir up business if nobody knows who you are," Mewtwo replied. "Some trainers like a mystery."

"If you say so. Shall we depart?"

"If that is what you wish."

-
Special thanks to Archmage Ansrit for being the basis of Myrddin (It's Welsh; better known as "Merlin")